Nigeria Needs 266,667 Doctors, 21,333 Dentists

Professor Julius A. Okojie, OON
Executive Secretary, NUC

Nigeria requires, at least, 266, 667 Medical Doctors and 21,333 Dentists to tackle its deficiency in healthcare delivery and meet the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s recommended ideal doctor/patient ratio of 1: 600. With only about 35, 000 registered Medical Doctors practicing in the country today, giving a doctor/patient ratio of 1: 3, 500, Nigeria has a deficit of 231, 667 doctors.” The Chairperson of the Nigerian Association of Colleges of Medicine (NACOM), Prof e ssor Folasade Ogunsola, who disclosed this, when she led other executive members of the Association on a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Julius A. Okojie, OON, on Thursday, 3 September, 2015, Professor Ogunsola noted that, with the present quota for admission into Medical Schools, less than 3,000 doctors graduated every year. She said that even if all of them stayed in the country and no one died and population growth remained at zero, she said, it would take a minimum of 77 years for Nigeria to achieve this ideal ratio. The Chairperson revealed the stark reality that with this imbalance, about half of the number left the country or were internally displaced into other professions, in addition to the population, which was growing at a rate of 3.2% annually, above the world average of about 1.1%, meaning that it would take over 100 years to achieve the desired ratio. “The situation is worse in Dentistry where there are less than 3, 000 Dentists in the country and less than 175 are produced

ES, NUC, Prof. Okojie with the President, NACOM, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola during the visit.

annually. With an ideal ratio of One Dentist to 7, 500, It would take the country 103.5 years to meet its need of 21, 333 Dentists, assuming all indices are static. There was therefore an urgent need to improve the rate of production of healthcare workers to meet the needs of Nigeria”, she said. Professor Ogunsola noted that Medical education was expensive everywhere in the world. She expressed regret that Medical education in Nigeria was in a crisis as the capacity of Colleges and Faculties of Health in the institutions to produce healthcare professt sionals in the 21 Century was gradually being eroded. This, she said, was due to inadequate funding that resulted in decay and inadequate infrastructure as well as related issues of incessant strikes in the health sector, coupled with inadequate technology for practical works, especially in the Basic Sciences. The NACOM Chair said that the Colleges of Medicine/Health were usually operated at separate campuses close to the teaching hospitals, noting that the funding of the Medical Schools was through the main campuses and dependent on the priority given to them by the University Management. She stressed the importance of creating a funding line for Medical School items, within the university budget, for capital projects, including equipment, overheads and the Medical Library.

Professor Okojie in a group photograph with members of NACOM and NUC Management

 The Provost, University of Lagos College of Medicine, appealed to NUC to make a case for a special intervention fund, through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) for simulation laboratories in Dentistry as well as the provision of dental chairs for students' use, since these items were not always provided for in setting up the Clinical Skills Laboratories. She decried the situation whereby the Teaching Hospitals were managed by the Ministry of Health, with little oversight by the Ministry of Education, noting that the arrangement had distorted the purpose for which these Teaching Hospitals were set up. She also made a case for the entry level for professional Nursing and Physiotherapy, among others, saying that it was sometimes difficult to get the professionals in the field to come into the academia as they were better paid in the hospitals than in the universities. On the new Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS), proposed for the Medical and Dental professions, Professor Ogunsola said that the Association, which consisted of Provosts and Deans of Medical Schools in Nigeria, accepted it wholeheartedly. She commended the Executive Secretary and members of his Management for the BMAS which, according to her, had put the necessary pathway in place for training programmes from the undergraduate to Ph.D levels in the Clinical Sciences. Responding, Professor Okojie said that there were many issues that needed to be addressed in the medical profession. He assured the delegation that NUC would do all within its powers to partner with ES, NUC, Prof. Okojie with the President, NACOM, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola during the visit. 11 MONDAY BULLETIN - A Publication of the office of The Executive Secretary the Association to tackle them, just as it was addressing similar challenges affecting other disciplines in the Nigerian University System (NUS), without compromising standards. The Executive Secretary stated that maximum attention should be paid to revamping the infrastructure in the existing Medical Schools to pave way for possible increase in their carrying capacities. He advised NACOM to articulate its demands and challenges, with a view to providing lasting solutions to them in the best interest of the NUS. Professor Okojie expressed the hope that TETfund would extend its funding interventions to Medical Schools to rebuild their infrastructure and update the skills of their personnel. He promised that the Commission would look into other issues raised by the NACOM Chairperson and the Association's long list of requests to the NUC such as, the release of BMAS, entry level for professionals, dichotomy between Ph.D and Fellowship as well as other identified grey areas in the Medical profession. A member of the NUC Management, the Director, Academic Standards (DAS), Dr. Gidado Kumo, urged the Association to maintain the existing Minimum Academic Standards set for the Medical profession. The Director of Quality Assurance, Dr. Noel Saliu, commended the Association for its useful inputs and involvement in the Commission's p r o g r a m m e a c c r e d i t a t i o n excercise, adding that the visit would further enhance the existing cordial relationship between NACOM and the NUC. He advised the Association to take advantage of technology-assisted learning approaches to further enhance teaching and learning in the profession. Other members of the NUC Management team at the meeting were: the Director, Information and Public Relations, Mallam Ibrahim Usman Yakasai; Director, Inspection and Monitoring, Mr. Felix Olaniyan; while Mr. S. B. Essien and Engineer Kayode Odedina represented the Directors Management Support Services and Open and Distance Education, respectively. In the NACOM delegation were Professors P. C. Ibekwe, Memfin Ekpo, Ernest Onwasigwe, G. O. G Awosanya and Adesegun Fatusi. Others were Oladejo Azeez and O. O. Odubunmi.