The President, World Medical Association, Dr Osahon Enabulele says Nigeria needs over 250,000 medical doctors to meet the World Health Organisation doctor to patient ratio.
According to him, Nigeria has less than 100,000 registered doctors, describing this as “grossly inadequate” to meet the doctors-patients ratio.
Osahon, who made the remark in Benin, Thursday, during public lecture organised by the Federated Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Edo State council, lamented that out of the less than 100,000 doctors, about only 50,000 are actively practising in the country.
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“By international standard, a doctor should by assigned to less than 600 patients, but in Nigeria case, a doctor attend to over 3,000 patients. So, with this inadequacy, Nigeria needs over 250,000 doctors to cope with the current reality.”
“The fact is, going by last updated register of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, we have less than 100,000 registered doctor in the country. Let’s say about 98,000 doctors. Out of this 98,000, only 50,000 or thereabouts are actively practising in Nigeria. You may want to ask where are the remaining. Many have gone outside the country to practise due to the poor renumeration, many have left the profession,” he said.
Enabule stressed that for Nigeria to have good healthcare system there must be political commitment by political leaders to meet the Abuja declaration of dedicating 15 percent of its budget to healthcare provision.
He decried how political leaders in the country traveled abroad to queue up before seeing less qualified doctors to check blood pressure they can conveniently do in the country.
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Enabulele, however, identified lack of fund, inadequate infrastructure, unemployment, work place condition, renumeration, brain drain, economy, inflation and ineffective healthcare among others as problem facing the Nigeria’s health system.
“Because of these problem, senior doctors, consultant are moving out of Nigeria because of greater remuneration,” he said.
This, he said resulted in low quality of healthcare delivery in the country.
He called for improved political commitment, empowered healthcare workforce, improved working condition, recognition of value and professional work of the medical practitioners; stopage of medical tourism for political leaders; making wages to be competitive to change the narrative in the health sector.
He said Nigeria government must create a better living condition for the people including medical practitioners, saying a lot of people want to come back home when the country is better.
“There is need to establish Health Service Commission that would better administer the health system and drive medical man power, training, best human resource, develop plan among others,” he submitted.
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