The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), and Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) have taken a swipe at the minister of labour and employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, over his comment that the country has enough medical doctors.
The minister’s claim contrasts with the World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics of 2013, showing that there were about four doctors for every 10,000 Nigerians (one for 2,500), far below the organisation’s recommendation of one doctor to 600 patients.
Also, official data from the MDCN as of December 2017, said Nigeria had over 39,000 registered medical doctors.
This implies that with an estimated population of 193 million as of 2016, Nigeria had one medical doctor to about 4,845 citizens, less than 20 per cent of the WHO recommendation.
But Ngige, while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, April 24, said doctors who felt they wanted to relocate in search of greener pastures were free to do so as the nation had enough medical personnel.
He said he was unconcerned about the migration of Nigerian doctors to other countries, claiming they were a source of foreign exchange.
Asked to comment on brain drain and if the deliberate recruitment of Nigerian doctors by foreign embassies is detrimental to the nation’s health sector, Ngige had said: “No, I am not worried about doctors leaving the country. We have surplus.
“If you have surplus, you export. It happened some years ago here. I was taught chemistry and biology by Indian teachers in my secondary school days. There are surplus in their country and we also have surplus in the medical profession in our country. I can tell you this. In my area, we have excess.
“Who said we don’t have enough doctors? We have more than enough. You can quote me. There is nothing wrong in them travelling out. When they go abroad, they earn money and send them back home here. Yes, we have foreign exchange earnings from them and not just oil.”
When asked if brain drain was not hurting the health sector, he said, “Brain drain will only be inimical when for instance neurosurgeons travel and we don’t have neurosurgeons here.”
But in separate interviews, the NMA president, Dr Francis Faduyile and his NARD counterpart, Dr Segun Olaopa, said Ngige did not have the knowledge of the World Health Organisation’s recommendation on doctor-patient ratio.
In his reaction, NMA president said Nigeria does not have enough doctors stressed the need to ensure the country retains its medical personnel.
Faduyile said Nigeria falls behind in the WHO’s doctor/patient ratio recommendation, while questioning the minister’s understanding of the health sector challenges.
“That is an unfortunate statement which shows that he has done nothing in medical practice. The WHO stated that for optimal health care to be achieved, we need doctor/patient ratio of one to 600. In Nigeria, we have 40,000 doctors taking care of 200 million people.
“It is unfortunate; we do not have enough doctors. Maybe he is looking at the monetary part but there is the opportunity cost. He says it will generate revenue when the doctors bring back money. But that is coming at the expense of our people that are dying daily because of lack of facilities in the health sector to take care of simple ailments and complex ones like cancer.
“Nigeria has a maternal mortality rate that is about the highest in the world. To correct it, we need more health professionals around. Now that Ngige says they are free to go, it means that he missed the point. Africa’s head of states met in Abuja and declared that at least 15 per cent of annual budgets should go to the health sector. Nigeria has never gone beyond six per cent since 2001. The current budget gives about 3.8 per cent to health. You can see that Nigeria has no interest in taking care of its citizens,” he said.
The NMA president alleged that in some states, doctors had not been paid for 10 months while in others; the total number of doctors employed was less than 40.
“There are states that have not employed doctors. We have states that have fewer than 50 doctors in their health sector and some have not paid doctors for 10 months. There is a state where over 80 doctors resigned because the state did not take care of their welfare.
“The populace is docile and that is why someone will come out and say we have more than enough doctors. It will take Nigeria 15 years to have adequate number of doctors and that is if none of them leaves the country,” he said.
Faduyile stated that Nigeria had one of the highest infant mortality rate in the world.
“We have one of the highest maternal mortality rate. Our life expectancy is one of the lowest among the comity of nations. These are the direct effect of poor health care management,” he stated.
For his part, Olaopa said Ngige spoke as a politician, adding that the nation would continue to lose doctors with advanced medical training.
“Nigeria continues to lose doctors to other countries across all levels but the worst hit are those with advanced medical training who are required to use the national investment and training for the betterment of the populace.
“Does the minister even know the number of doctors in Nigeria or when was the last time he was involved in the provider end of health care? Such statement as this from handlers of the federal government makes you to wonder if the government is truly committed to solving problems of inadequate manpower in the health sector. Doctors overwork themselves even in urban setting let alone the non-availability of medical personnel in the rural areas.
“The minister is totally ignorant of the health system situation in Nigeria and it is unfortunate that someone who should know would make such a spurious pronouncement on national television. He spoke as a politician and nothing more. And we strongly doubt he represents the views of his paymasters.”
“It is sad that somebody of his calibre will try to go to that extent of covering up a large degree of incompetence of not doing proper diligence. It shows that he does not even have the number of registered medical doctors practising in Nigeria.
“It is unfortunate that many of our politicians are used to urban lifestyles. They don’t know what is happening in the rural areas and they only pay lip service to health care development in Nigeria. It means we are not ready to identify the problems that we have in the health sector let alone providing solutions to them. Every time, doctors are stressing themselves out because we don’t have enough equipment and manpower.
“He spoke as a politician who does not know what is happening in the country. The doctors we are losing are not fresh doctors but specialists. That means that Nigeria will continue to battle with the shortage of specialist doctors,” he said.
Also, the national president of MDCN, Prof. Ngim Ngim, said Ngige was wrong about Nigeria having enough doctors.
“I don’t know what must have informed the minister’s opinion, but the doctor: patient ratio in Nigeria is still far below the WHO recommendation. In as much as anybody has the right to travel out of the country, the government must put measures in place to give enough medical manpower in the country to take care of the population.
“Brain drain in the health sector is a big problem in the country; Nigeria does not have enough doctors, all efforts must, therefore, be made to keep the ones that are still in the country,” he said.
With Sahara Reporters, Punch reports
