The Nigerian healthcare sector has faced a series of challenges, with multiple reports noting alarming deterioration in health service delivery.
This may not be unconnected to the declining number of doctors in the country. The ‘Women and Men report 2021’ revealed that a total of 39,912 doctors were available in Nigeria as of 2017. The number of doctors increased to 44,021 in 2018. But this number reduced drastically to 24,640 in 2019.
A recent report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that for every 10,000 persons in Nigeria, there are four doctors available to treat or attend to them.
Current ratio fall below global recommendations
The World Health Organisation (WHO) puts the doctor:patient ratio at 1:600 standard. However, Nigeria’s doctors to patients ratio of 4:10,000 falls below the global recommendation. According to a BusinessDay report, this has led to a medical brain drain, thereby leaving a number of people without medical consultation from doctors in Nigeria. The report also noted that the inability of Nigeria to meet the United Nations’ benchmark for the doctor to patient ratio contributes to the country’s healthcare challenges.
Continuous Emigration
The Guardian reports that the major cause for the decline in the number of doctors in Nigeria is the migration of Nigerian doctors abroad. It is estimated that at least 2,000 medical doctors leave Nigeria yearly and no fewer than 5,407 Nigerian trained doctors are currently working with the British National Health Service in the United Kingdom,
The president of the Nigerian medical association, Dr. Francis Faduyile also noted that a high rate of insecurity, unemployment, low remuneration, bad roads, and poor healthcare system are some of the reasons why doctors are leaving the country in search of greener pastures. He noted that 75,000 Nigerian doctors were registered with the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), but over 33,000 have left the country.
Data shows that doctors in America and Europe are paid higher than their counterparts in Africa, a report by the Nigerian Health Watch further states this.
The United States of America and the United Kingdom are the two most prevalent destinations for Nigerian medical doctors to seek job opportunities, others include Canada, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Qatar among others.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) number 3 and its target requires an adequate number of doctors in order to achieve the goals.
However, there have been concerns that the Nigerian healthcare system has not shown any visible signs of achieving sustainable development goals, especially in relation to human resources.
Incessant Strike and Doctors’ Emigration
The incessant strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) shows a lag in Nigerian healthcare.
The strike has also given doctors enough time to apply for opportunities in other countries following the high demand for healthcare workers due to the pandemic. A practical example is the dependence of some countries like Oman, Emirates, and Saudi Arabia on foreign-trained health personnel; these countries have 80% dependency on foreign-trained health care human resources according to a World Health Organisation report.
Reports have noted that migration however cannot be stopped but can be managed by improving factors beyond the healthcare sector such as the living condition, access to education, improved wages, and welfare for public servants.
Experts have also opined that a lot has to be done in order to achieve SDG 3 which aims at ensuring healthy well-being by 2030. However, an increase in the number of healthcare workers especially on a ratio basis means improving the health capacity which is an integral part of achieving SDG 3.