Nigeria needs to produce 12,000 doctors to bridge gap created by exodus
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Medical brain drain is now so acute in Nigeria it would need to produce or hire from abroad and retain 12,000 doctors yearly to bridge the gap in healthcare delivery which requires one doctor to about 400 or 600 doctors.
That doctor/patient ratio is what is recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has pointed out, but lamented the ratio in Nigeria is currently 1:8,000 and getting worse.
MDCAN National President Victor Makanjuola stressed Nigeria would need 12,000 doctors yearly to fill the gap created by the exodus of medical personnel in the past two years alone.
“Disturbed by the impact of this ugly trend on our country’s health sector growth and development, the MDCAN has conducted a survey among its chapters in March 2022 and found that over 500 medical and dental consultants had left Nigeria for more developed countries over the preceding two years,” he said in a statement.
“A further exploration of data by the Association’s Medical Education Committee showed that 9 out of every 10 medical and dental consultants with less than five years experience on the job have plans to leave the country.
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Impact of loss of highly skilled workforce
“Furthermore, the Nigerian Medical Association recently reported that only 24,000 doctors are currently registered to practice in Nigeria, giving a ratio of one doctor to over 8,000 Nigerians, against the World Health Organisation’s recommended ratio of one doctor to every 600 people,” Makanjuola added, per Vanguard reporting.
“It is important to note that the average medical and dental consultant is not only a clinician but also doubles as the teacher for medical students and doctors in specialist (residency) training.
“It, therefore, goes without saying that the loss of this category of highly-skilled workforce to other countries will not only have an immediate negative impact on clinical service delivery but will leave a long-term, devastating impact on the training of future doctors in Nigeria.
“Anecdotal projections indicate that the 3,000 fresh medical and dental doctors, on average, produced by our local medical schools in Nigeria and another 1,000 produced by foreign medical schools, fall far short of the number of such healthcare personnel required to meet the country’s yearly new medical manpower supply needs, estimated to fall between 10,000 and 12,000 (about three times the current rate).
“This is according to the National Post-Graduate Medical College. As a concerned stakeholder, we resolved to kick-start this necessary but difficult conversation that seeks to help the country shape the future of medical education in Nigeria in the hope of meeting the human resources needs of our national health system.
“While we continue to urge the government to improve the conditions of service and other ‘push’ factors, we consider this (summit) as an opportunity to rethink the philosophy and principles governing medical education in Nigeria.”
