Says low budget allocation weakens health system, pushes doctors abroad

The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has chided the Federal Government for its serial breach of agreements with the association, alleging the government’s insensitivity towards the welfare of Nigerian doctors, which is indirectly aiding avoidable brain drain in the country.

The NMA President, Dr Osundara Tope, spoke during the “Frontline” programme of the Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, which was monitored by The Guardian.

Osundara, while lamenting the poor state of the health sector in the country, said: “Normally, you should have one doctor to 600 patients, but in Nigeria, we have one doctor to about 10,000 patients.

This means that the workload is actually challenging and exhausting for doctors.”

ALSO, the NMA, Lagos State branch, has said that low budgetary allocation to health has reduced the capacity of public hospitals and forced many doctors to leave the country in search of better opportunities.

The association stated this, yesterday, during its 2025 yearly general meeting and scientific conference in Lagos, themed “A critical appraisal of Nigeria’s budgetary allocation to health: Negotiating for better medical salary scale and relativity for medical doctors.”

In his keynote lecture, Edamisan Olusoni Temiye said Nigeria had failed to meet the 15 per cent minimum health budget target set in the Abuja Declaration, adding that the country has remained stuck at about four to five per cent for the past decade.