Nigeria needs 250,000 medical doctors to meet WHO standard

Nigeria need around 250,000 medical physicians to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) doctor to patient ratio, according to Dr. Osahon Enabulele, president of the World Medical Association (WMA).

According to Enabulele, Nigeria’s healthcare system is plagued by a number of issues, including a lack of resources, poor infrastructure, high unemployment, unsafe working conditions, low pay, an exodus of qualified professionals, a weak economy, high inflation, and inefficient medical services.

On Friday, he delivered these views at a public lecture hosted by the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Benin City, Edo State.

He expressed disappointment that just half of Nigeria’s estimated 100,000 physicians were actually in active practice.

He claims that the country’s “grossly inadequate” doctor-to-patient ratio is due to the fact that there are fewer than 100,000 licensed physicians in practice.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “international standards recommend that no more than 600 patients be assigned to one physician. Therefore, given this deficiency, Nigeria requires more than 250,000 doctors to deal with the current situation.

According to the most recent data from the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, the number of practicing physicians in Nigeria is well below 100 thousand. Say there are 98,000 of them. Of these 98,000, only around half are now practicing medicine in the country of Nigeria. You can inquire as to where the rest of them are. Due to low pay, many have left the field entirely, and others have sought employment elsewhere.

To establish a good healthcare system in Nigeria, he said, political leaders must make it a priority.

He also criticized the country’s political elite for flying halfway across the world just to get their blood pressure checked by doctors who are less qualified than those available at home.