Nigeria has 1 doctor to 2,753 patients

The Head of Human Resources for Health, Federal Ministry of Health, Shakuri Kadiri has disclosed that Nigeria currently has 1 doctor to 2,753 patients, an abnormality from the World Health Organization’s standard of one doctor to 600 patients.

Kadiri disclosed this at the launch of the Nigeria Health Work Force Country Profile 2018 and handover of the Nigeria Health Workforce Registry by the ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and other partners.

He stated that the country recorded a progressive increase in migration of medical doctors from 2005 to 2018, adding that 59 per cent of the registered medical practitioners were in good standing with 35 per cent being females.

He also revealed that the number of medical doctors registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria is 74,543, suggesting there are 36.3 medical doctors per 100,000 population.

It was further gathered that the last health workforce profile of the country was done in 2012.

The WHO Nigeria Officer in Charge, Clement Peter who revealed that the current National Health Workforce Registry had health workforce information for 10 states, called on the federal government to support the scaling up of the registry to cover the remaining states as well as the federal departments, agencies, parastatals and the private sector.

He added that Nigeria could only improve its health indices by ensuring that the health workforce is accessible and equitably distributed.

The Minister of Heath, Osagie Ehanire on his own part said they’ve been working to obtain accurate data on the existing health workforce in the country, to facilitate human resource for health planning and thereby deliver efficient, effective and high quality health services to citizens.