The Head of Human Resources for Health, Federal Ministry of Health, Shakuri Kadiri has disclosed that there is shortage of medical practitioners in Nigeria.
Kadiri made this known at the launch of the Nigeria Health Work Force Country Profile 2018 and handover of the Nigeria Health Workforce Registry in Abuja on Tuesday.
Giving a ratio of doctor assigned to patient, the deputy director stated that the country currently has 1 doctor to 2,753 patients, which translates to 36.6 medical doctors per 100,000 persons.
This is an abnormality from the World Health Organization’s standard of one doctor to 600 patients.
The deputy director also revealed that the registered medical doctors with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria is 74,543.
Although, 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.
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According to reports, the last health workforce profile of the country was done in 2012.
Clement Peter, the WHO Nigeria Officer in Charge, revealed that the current National Health Workforce Registry had health workforce information for 10 states and he charged 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.
Peter noted that there could only be an improvement in the country’s health indices if the health workforce is accessible and equitably distributed.
The Minister of Heath, Osagie Ehanire said there has been efforts on his own part as they have 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.
