The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, has revealed that Nigeria is facing a severe shortage of doctors, with one doctor currently attending to about 3,500 patients.
Speaking during a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, Salako said the global shortage of healthcare workers has worsened migration across borders, including from Nigeria, as countries compete for limited medical personnel.
The press briefing comes amid the ongoing nationwide strike by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, which began on Saturday over unmet demands relating to welfare, working conditions, and government policies.
The resident doctors have expressed frustration over staff shortages, unpaid arrears, and the lack of a clear framework to retain medical professionals, all of which have contributed to the worsening doctor-to-patient ratio across the country.
“There is a shortage of health workers globally, and also in Nigeria. In Nigeria today, we have a ratio of one (doctor) to 3,500 of their patients. So, in general, there is a shortage.
“Even sometimes, when we want to employ, we may not get enough to employ to get to that level of the WHO recommendation. And it is because of that global shortage that is fueling migration across borders because once there is a shortage, it’s like a commodity — once there is a shortage, there will be movement,” he said.
Salako described the situation as a global challenge, worsened by Nigeria’s economic conditions, but assured all that the government is working to strengthen local capacity to produce more health workers.
“It’s a global issue that everybody is trying to address. For us in Nigeria, the economic challenges of the country are worsening the situation, there is no doubt about it.
“But like I said, we are rising up to address the challenge,” he added.
According to him, the government is investing in expanding the capacity of medical institutions to train more professionals, even though the impact will take time to manifest.
“Of course, that will take a while for them to graduate and fill the space. Some countries in the world have implemented policies that now turn their health workers into assets that they won’t send anywhere or push to other parts of the world.
“Nigeria is trying to go in that direction so that we keep those we can keep. Some of them can still go out to be assets that can earn revenue for the country when it’s well-structured,” he said.
Salako also addressed questions about the employment of locum (temporary) medical personnel instead of permanent staff in federal health institutions.
He clarified that the Federal Government has granted hospital chief executives waivers to recruit locum doctors temporarily, pending formal recruitment processes.
“It is known that doctors are leaving, the migration rate is high, so chief executives of hospitals are being given the power to be able to replace those who will be on a locum basis,” he said.
The minister explained that the recruitment of permanent staff involves a complex approval process that includes the participation of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and multiple agencies.
“The process of engaging permanent staff is a little bit complex, and it’s not something you can do day in, day out.
“For you to do permanent employment, the Head of Service must be there, all kinds of people must be represented. There must be applications, there must be a screening process, all the processes that you normally do to engage people.
“After that, they have to be captured by IPPIS and so on. So, that is not something we can do on an everyday basis,” he stated.
According to him, the government has now adopted a two-tier approach — annual recruitment through waivers for permanent staff, and temporary employment of locum workers between recruitment cycles.
The minister added that the ministry is developing a universal protocol to guide medical directors on the employment terms of locum staff.
“And like I said, we’re now developing a universal protocol to guide MDs and chief executive officers on how to employ locums — in terms of what the terms of contract are, how long they can work for, and to also ensure that they are given priority when the opportunity for regular employment comes,” he added.
