- ‘Over 38,000 Nigerian Doctors Are in Diaspora’
The Vice Chancelor of Eko University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Lagos, Prof. Muheez Durosinmi, has lamented the inadequacy of medical doctors in the country.
He said Nigeria had yet to attain the recommendation of the World Health Organisation of one doctor per 600 hundred patients.
He said it would take the country about 100 years to meet up with the WHO’s recommendation.
Durosinmi, who said the country presently operated on one doctor to 6,000 patients, claimed that about half of the population of Nigerian registered doctors were in diaspora.
The university don, who spoke at the inauguration of the governing council of the institution, said only 35,000 out of the 73,000 registered Nigerian doctors were practising in the country, while the remaining had travelled abroad for greener pasture.
“Nigerian doctors are well trained; when our doctors go abroad, they are recognised. The downturn of the economy has made government not to employ the required number of doctors; we have a lot of medical graduates that are still looking for job.
“On the list of the medical and dentist council, we have a total of 73,000 members, only 35,000 are practising in the country; the rest are in diaspora. The current system cannot absorb them and we have so many government hospitals that can’t be proud of adequate number of doctors “.
Asserting that Nigerian doctors are well trained and among the best in the world, the vice chancellor said a lot of them were unemployed, adding that both federal and state governments were not ready to employ them.
Durosinmi, a former chairman of Faculty of Pathology, National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, said additional institutions that would produce qualify doctors must be established for the country to meet the WHO standard.
Also speaking at the occasion, chairman of governing council, Prof. Akanni Hussein, attributed the problem in the health sector to structural defect, adding that Nigerian doctors performed well abroad.
Hussein, a former vice chancellor of Lagos State University, also pointed out that government interference in the management of university should be discontinued, saying there should be academic freedom for universities.
In his opening remarks, the founder of the university, Dr Ayodele Ibraheem, said he established the school because of his love for his people.
Ibraheed stated the institution was meant purely for academic pursuit, adding that student union activities would not be allowed.
