Doctor to patient ratio in Nigeria is 1:6000 – Education Minister Adamu Adamu

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has criticised the high rate of brain drain in the health sector, saying that if all Nigerian doctors leave the nation, it will take 120 years for the country to have the number of doctors it needs.

On Friday, November 5, the Minister said this at the first matriculation ceremony of the Federal University of Health Sciences Otukpo (FUSHO), which was conducted at its temporary site in Otada, Otukpo LGA, Benue State.

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The Education Minister, who was represented by a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Arc. Sunny Echono, lamented that the country’s medical training, competence, and skills have remained problematic as a result of a combination of inadequate personnel and facilities. According to data, the doctor-to-patient ratio in Nigeria is 1:6000.

“Statistics reveal that Nigeria’s doctor-patient ratio falls significantly short of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations, which call for one doctor for every 600 patients. This is in stark contrast to Nigeria’s current 1:6000 ratio.

The advent of the global COVID-19 pandemic compounded this, exposing the country’s inadequate institutional capacity for disease control and surveillance,” he stated.

The Minister went on to say that it was for this reason that the Federal Government established FUHSO, the country’s first, to bridge the enormous gap by leveraging a clear goal, strong leadership, an exceptional academic body, and an innovative pedagogical methodology.

The institution, according to Adamu, was established to provide specialized training, research, and facilities in the field of medical and health sciences in order to reverse the nation’s brain drain in the education and health sectors.