Between two extremes: Egyptian physicians and the paradox of intra-African migration

Purpose The authors of the present study seek to answer why Egyptian physicians migrate from extreme work contexts in Egypt to other African countries despite similarly constrained professional and living conditions in destination contexts. Design/methodology/approach This study employed a qualitative research design. Data were collected through 22 semi-structured interviews with Egyptian physicians practising in Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Sierra Leone and Kenya. The interview data were analyzed using the Gioia methodology, following a systematic inductive approach to identify first-order concepts, second-order themes and aggregate dimensions. Findings The authors identified three interrelated motives: life–career recalibration motives (financial arbitrage, temporal relief, accelerated advancement), professional re-legitimation motives (recognition shift, restored professional respect, institutional permeability) and humanitarian–dignity motives (humanitarian mobility, dignified living), which collectively underpin physicians' migration from the Egyptian healthcare sector to comparable African contexts. Originality/value This study extends extant research on physician migration by empirically examining intra-African (South–South) mobility, a dimension that remains comparatively underdeveloped within global health workforce scholarship.