Jimisayo Opanuga
The federal government has increased the enrollment quota in medical, nursing, and other health professional schools has been increased by 100 per cent, doubling it from 28,000 to 64,000 within one year.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, revealed this during a sectoral ministerial press briefing in Abuja on Friday.
The Guardian reports that the event was held to commemorate the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s tenure in office.
Over the years, health workers in the country have often sought opportunities abroad to practice, a trend attributed to factors such as inadequate equipment, worsening insecurity, poor working conditions, and low salaries.
The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria reports over 1,000 consultants leaving the country between 2019 and 2023.
Similarly, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors documented over 900 members departing for Europe in just the first nine months of 2023.
Experts point to a number of factors driving this trend, including inadequate equipment, worsening security situations, poor working conditions, and low salaries.
However, Pate assured that there is no cause for alarm, stressing that the Federal Government is actively addressing the issue.
“We have doubled the intake, the enrolment, the quotas of medical schools, nursing schools, and other health professionals’ schools from an enrollment target of 28,000 a year to 64,000 now.
“That is just the first step, the education sector will have to play its role. The states will have to cue in to improve the infrastructure, the training, and the tools to produce more healthcare workforce because we need to produce more healthcare workforce given that we’re losing some so that we can serve the population of this country,” he said.
Regarding the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), the minister noted that at least 1,400 centres now have skilled birth attendants, with more than 2,400 health workers, including doctors, nurses, and midwives, being recruited to provide essential health services to Nigerians in rural areas.
Pate also added that the Federal Government had disbursed the first tranche of N25 billion Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
“We stipulated that states accessing these funds must comply with the fiduciary guidelines provided to address observed lapses, ensuring that resources are efficiently utilised for the benefit of Nigerians.
“Twenty-three states have received these funds, and I believe that the remaining states are in the process of completing requirements to receive their allocations for channelling through the PHCs,” he added.
Recall that in October 2023, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Tunji Alausa, stated that the government had implemented strategies to increase admissions into medical and dental institutions.
