NMA President, Dr Uche Ojinmah, said Nigeria does not have enough doctors “based on the facts available to them”.
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has countered the health minister over claims that Nigeria produces enough doctors for its estimated 200 million people.
NMA President, Dr Uche Ojinmah, said Nigeria does not have enough doctors “based on the facts available to them”.
Earlier on Tuesday, health minister, Dr Osagie Ohanire said Nigeria has enough medical doctors, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was working to replace medical doctors leaving the country.
“We have heard complaints of doctors who are now leaving the system but there are actually enough doctors in the system because we are producing up to 2,000 or 3,000 doctors every year in the country, and the number leaving is less than 1,000.
“It is just that the employment process needs to be smoothened,” he said.
However, Ojinmah told Vanguard that Nigeria has a ratio of one doctor to 4,500/5,000 patients contrary to the World Health Organisation’s recommended ratio of one doctor to 600 patients.
“I don’t think he (minister) is serious about that but the fundamental thing here is that don’t have enough doctors,” Ojinmah said.
“He (Health minister) must have been misquoted because from 1960 to 2020, we have produced over 80,000 doctors and 5,000 dentists registered with the Medical and Dental Council.
“When you remove those that have died, those that have left the profession and those that have joined politics as well as those that have stopped practising, it will come down to about 40,000 or 50,000 doctors.
“Today, out of this number left, almost 20,000 have left the country, leaving us with about 20,000 to 25,000 doctors to cater for over 200 million Nigerians. This will give us a ratio of about 1 doctor to 4,500 or 5,000 patients. The WHO ratio is 1 to 600 and this is the yawning gap and the Minister feels that 2,000 to 3,000 doctors produced in a year can cover the gap.”
However, checks by SaharaReporters show Ojinmah’s calculation was wrong and that having 20,000 to 25,000 doctors left in Nigeria means the doctor-to-patient ratio is 1:8,000 to 1:10,000.
Ojinmah added that even if Nigeria produces 2,000 to 3,000 medical doctors annually, they cannot fill the vacuum left by consultants with up to 15 to 20 years of experience that have left the country.
He said: “The minister is also looking at it from the perspective of numbers. He is not looking at the level of experience of those that are leaving the country.
“Even if we agreed that the 2,000 to 3,000 doctors are enough, these are doctors that will go for house jobs, and then go for youth service and you are using it to equate consultants, medical officers long time medical officers, paediatricians, etc. that are leaving the country.”
Ojinmah accused the government of running away from the problem instead of confronting it by increasing wages, providing appropriate equipment, making the hospital environment conducive and fighting insecurity nationwide.
“We do not agree with the Minister based on the facts available to us, go and check the number of doctors who have registered with the UK Medical Council in the past two weeks. They are over 260 doctors and that is just the only UK.
“I’m not talking about America and Canada. Canada is coming down and taking them and running away. I want to believe that the Minister of Health was misquoted.”