The President of Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors ,NARD, Dr Emeka Orji has revealed that the number of medical doctors in the country is still experiencing steady decrease daily, noting that only about 10,000 resident doctors are left.
Dr Orji made the disclosure during an interview with The PUNCH on Monday, stating that about 100 resident doctors leave the country monthly to seek greener pastures.
His words: “I know that as of now, we have just about 24,000 doctors, including the consultants, resident doctors, house officers, and medical officers. Out of the over 80,000 doctors registered, about 64 per cent are not in service; some have emigrated out of the country, some have retired, others have changed to other professions and others have died.
“The resident doctors used to be 16,000 but currently, we are doing around 9,000 to 10,000. We cannot put an absolute figure to that because every day, people leave. So, we have an average of about 9,000 to 10,000 resident doctors across the country.
“In total, we have 24,000 doctors including consultants, resident doctors, medical officers, and house officers. The World Health Organisation recommended one doctor to 600 patients but right now in Nigeria, we are doing one doctor to 10,000 patients.”
The NARD president also noted that the major causes of the emigration were poor remuneration, poor welfare, and lack of housing schemes.
“We have poor working conditions in this country; we are essential workers and it is expected that the government should do whatever it can to make sure that they improve the working condition. If the health sector is going to survive, everybody must be involved.
“This year, between January and August, we lost about 800 and when we asked them why they were leaving, 80 percent of them reported that it was because of poor remuneration and poor living conditions,” Orji added.
Agency