There is a huge disparity in doctor to patients recommendation, across Nigeria, and this is impacting on productivity, as the impact is making medics overwork.
This is according to president World Medical Association Osahon Enabulele who doubles as the guest speaker at the public lecture organised by the Federated Chapel of the Edo Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Benin City.
The international standards is a doctor to less than 600 patients, but in Nigeria, a doctor attends to over 3,000 patients. So Nigeria needs over 250,000 doctors to cope with the current situation.
For Nigeria to match the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of ratio of doctors to patients, the country needs about 250,000 medical doctors in its employment.
He also decries the situation of Nigeria having less than 100,000 doctors, a figure he says is grossly inadequate to meet the doctors-patients ratio.
Ebabulele reveals there is less than 100,000 registered doctors in Nigeria, putting the figure at 98,000, and according to the last update, only 50,000 are actually practicing in Nigeria,.
And for Nigeria to have a very good healthcare system, there must be political commitment by the Nigerian leaders to meet the Abuja Declaration of dedicating 15 percent of its budget to healthcare provision.
He takes a swipe on how political leaders in the country travel abroad to queue up before seeing less qualified doctors to check blood pressure they could conveniently do in Nigeria.
Enabulele, however, identifies lack of funds, inadequate infrastructure, unemployment, workplace conditions, abysmal remuneration, brain drain, bad economy, inflation and ineffective healthcare among others as problems facing Nigeria’s healthcare system.
Reasons why senior doctors, especially consultants are moving out of Nigeria in droves to greener pastures, with resultant effects across the country.
To change the narrative, Ebabulele advocates improved political commitment, improved healthcare space, improved working conditions, recognition of value and professional works of the medical practitioners, stopping medical tourism for political leaders, wages to be competitive. As lots of people in diaspora want to return.
To ensure actualisation of all these, Ebabulele says establishment of a Health Service Commission should be put in place.
