The president of the Nigerian Medical Association, Professor Bala Audu has stated that Nigeria’s rising population has increased the demand for doctors, causing one doctor to attend to 8,000 patients.
The NMA president further said that about 15,000 doctors had left the country in the past five years, adding that the exodus was continuous.
“If you divide the estimated population of 240 million by the number of practising doctors, which is 30,000, it will give you the doctor-patient ratio of 1:8000,” he said.
Audu stated this while reading a communiqué at the just concluded 2025 NMA Annual Delegates Conference and General Meeting held in Katsina State.
The conference theme, “The Universal Applicability of Care Standards for Patients and the Well-being of Health Care Providers,” saw a gathering of stakeholders in the health sector.
It also featured an outreach programme in Katsina where 500 patients were treated, 100 underwent eye surgeries, and nutritional supplements were distributed to orphanages.
Audu decried the brain drain in the sector, stating that it has pushed Nigeria’s doctor-to-patient ratio to 1:8,000, a figure higher than the recommended 1:600 doctor-to-patient ratio.
According to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Ali Pate, the country is left with 55,000 doctors and a doctor-to-patient ratio of 3.9 per 10,000.
Other healthcare professionals, such as nurses, laboratory scientists and physiotherapists, have also emigrated to greener pastures, with the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America as the choicest destinations.
Poor remuneration, lack of equipment and facilities, and the economic and insecurity situation in the country are some of the reasons for the mass migration of health workers.
Continuing, Audu asserted that Nigerian doctors were among the best trained in the world, attracting recruiters from countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia.
He identified poor working conditions and inadequate remuneration as major factors pushing doctors to leave the country.
“There are difficulties pushing the doctors to leave the country, one of which is poor working conditions and remuneration,” he said.
The NMA president demanded the payment of the seven months’ outstanding arrears and the consequential adjustments to doctors working in tertiary hospitals.
He said, “Here we are calling for the payment of seven months of outstanding arrears and the consequential adjustments to doctors working in federal tertiary health institutions.”
To address the crisis, the NMA is demanding the full implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure across all levels of the health sector as part of broader efforts to retain medical professionals.
Audu further explained that the association opposed the proposed National Prescription Policy because only doctors underwent the requisite training to prescribe medications to patients.
He, however, urged the government to prioritise healthcare worker welfare in hopes of stopping the ongoing exodus and saving the country’s ailing healthcare system.
Punch.
