Head of Human Resources at the Federal Ministry of Health, Shakuri Kadiri, has said the country has one doctor to 2,753 patients as migration of medical doctor increases.
Kadiri disclosed this in Abuja at the launch of the Nigeria Health Work Force Country Profile 2018 and handover of the Nigeria Health Workforce Registry by the ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and other partners.
The HR head stated that the country recorded a progressive increase in migration of medical doctors from 2005 to 2018, adding that 59 per cent of the registered medical practitioners were in good standing with 35 per cent being females.
He revealed that the number of medical doctors registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria is at 74,543, suggesting that there are 36.3 medical doctors per 100,000 population.
On his part, WHO Nigeria Officer in Charge, Clement Peter, said the registry and profile would ensure that health workforce information was readily available for evidence-based management and planning.
He said WHO, with funding from the Canadian Government, developed the prototype of the National Health Workforce Registry.
He said the current registry had health workforce information for 10 states, stressing the need for the government and partners to support the scaling up of the registry to cover the remaining states as well as the federal departments, agencies, parastatals and private sector.
However, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, explained that ‘the government had been working to obtain accurate data on the existing health workforce in the country to facilitate human resource for health planning and thereby deliver efficient, effective and high quality health services to citizens.’
