Expert faults NHP claims on population of doctors

A medical practitioner, Dr. Niyi Osamiluyi, has faulted the recently approved National Health Policy, which put the number of doctors in the country at about 65,000.

Osamiluyi, who pioneered the use of mobile technology to deliver staged-based health education to expectant and new mothers in the country, said the figure was far from reality.

He said, “As a medical doctor who graduated in Nigeria, I can easily tell that the figure for the total number of doctors in the country is not correct. They are at best an estimate or extrapolation of all the doctors that have ever been produced in Nigeria.

“How do I know? Upon graduation, every doctor is issued a registration number by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria. When I multiply the number of years of post-graduation by 2,300 and then add it to my registration number, the result is approximately what is presented as the number of doctors in Nigeria.”

The recently approved National Health Policy states that there were about 65,000 doctors in Nigeria by 2012 and that 2,300 doctors are produced in Nigeria every year.

But Osamiluyi faulted the claim, saying that the population of doctors in the country was less than that.

“Neither does it discount doctors that have left the shores of Nigeria for the United Kingdom, United States of America, South Africa and other countries.

“Every year, between a quarter and a third of graduating doctors travel out of the country in search of greener pastures. Some join non- governmental organisations and health maintenance organisations. Some even leave the health sector entirely like our current Minister of Industry Trade and Investment.

“In my opinion, we probably have less than 35,000 doctors practising in Nigeria and they are responsible for the care of about 180 million people. That is, a doctor-patient ratio of about 1: 5,000. The value in South Africa is 1: 1,300. The World Health Organisation recommends 1: 600.

“Among this, we have only about 53 neuro surgeons, including those that have relocated to either South Africa, Canada or the United States. We have less than 2,000 obstetricians  and gynaecologists available to provide specialist care to the 6.6 million births every year,” he said.

PUNCH.