FG Targets Yearly Output of 10,000 Doctors

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The federal government has said it planned to double the population of doctors and dentist produced in the country yearly from the 5000 to 10000, beginning from the next academic year by increasing admission into the medical and dental institutions.

Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who stated this during the induction ceremony for foreign-trained doctors organised by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), said the strategies would have direct impact on the healthcare delivery system.

He said, “The mass exodus of licensed medical doctors and other health professionals to more developed countries, that has brought significant disruptions to Nigeria’s health care system will be discouraged by making our health care environment more attractive, through strategic investments in infrastructure and prioritising the welfare of all health prophesiers.

“To this end, what pull or push our health workers will be intercepted through a data driven intervention by the federal government. We have just recently put in place plans and strategies to double the populations of doctors and dentist from the 5000 to 10000 from the next academic year by increasing admission into our medical and dental institutions.”

The minister further said the induction event was strategic in the renewed drive by the government to move the health sector forward and change the negative narratives of Nigeria’s poor health indicators.

“I don’t need to stress further the obvious human resource for health crises that is global but worst still driven by the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and the push and pull factor that encourages our young doctors and specialist alike and other health professionals to seek a supposedly better opportunity, which has now become the so-called new lexicon ‘Japa syndrome’,” he said.

Alausa also pledged that the ministry would expand the opportunities to all other health professionals like pharmacist, nursing, physiotherapy, community health extension workers, radiographers, adding that the plan would be executed in phases.

“You will agree with me that the just over 3000 doctors annually produced by the country remains grossly inadequate if we must achieve significant milestone in the coming years, so we need to double the rate of production of health workers or more,” he said

On funding, the minister said the ministry would continue to advocate for more funding for the health sector, noting that he and the coordinating minister of health had identified poor funding as a key gap.

“While we work towards domestics and other forms of resource mobilisation, again we intend to increase our value chain that put us in a position to attract more international grants and funding,” he stated, advising the newly inducted doctors to take their posting by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria serious.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the induction ceremony, the Registrar of MDCN, Dr. Tajudeen Sanusi said a total of 700 foreign-trained doctors participated in the qualifying examination conducted by the council out of which 205 passed.

He emphasised to uphold the existing standards in the medical and other health professions in the country, adding that such high standards had seen the country produce quality professions that could compete successfully worldwide.