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By Myke Agunwa
Presidential Candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi has lamented the shortage of nurses and other health workers in the country, saying that with about 15,000 graduate nurses churned out every year, Nigeria will need about 50years to satisfy nurse to patient ratio recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO).
Obi said that while WHO recommended a ratio of one nurse to every 120 persons, Nigeria with a population of over 200 million people is still struggling with one nurse per 1,160 persons.
Obi who was a guest speaker at the 28th Nigerian Universities Nursing Students Association (NUNSA) Annual General Assembly, held at the University of Lagos with the theme “Empowering Nurses: A Catalyst for Sustainable Health Care in Africa” on Friday, said that the conference was both timely and essential due to the shortage of nurses in the country.
He urged the Federal Government to prioritize training of more nurses to satisfy the domestic healthcare needs and have enough to export to the global community.
Commenting on the shortfall of nurses in his official X handle, the former governor of Anambra State said, “Nigeria only accounts for just about 1% of the global nursing workforce, which is far below what is needed for a country of over 200 million people.
“This critical shortage has continued to manifest in the poor nurse-to-patient ratio in Nigeria. We currently have about a 1:1,160 nurse-to-patient ratio, far above the WHO’s recommended ratio of 1:120.
” Irrespective of its huge population of about 1.45 billion people, India has achieved a nurse-to-patient ratio of about 1:500 and is continuously improving it by investing in the training of more nurses.
“Nigeria, according to reports, needs about 1 million nurses to fill in this severe shortage. We currently have about 200,000 registered nurses and still need about 800,000 to fill the shortage.
“With about 400 schools and colleges of nursing in Nigeria, producing less than 15,000 nurses annually, it will take us over 50 years to end the shortage. This highlights the need for urgent actions that will aid the production of more nurses who are the bedrock of our primary health sector.
“We also need to invest more in nursing internship programs to enable newly trained nurses to gain hands-on experience to function effectively in the health sector.
“By so doing, we will raise an army of well-trained nurses who productively contribute to our healthcare sector” he stated.
The country has recently faced a significant shortage of nurses, exacerbated by high migration rates of Nigerian-trained nurses seeking better opportunities abroad. This shortage has led to increased workloads for remaining ones, impacting the quality of care and potentially increasing mortality and morbidity rates.
In 2020, the World Health Organization placed Nigeria on its red list of states facing a serious shortage of doctors and nurses.
In a bid to stem the tide, Rep. Ganiyu Johnson proposed a bill in 2023 that would require medical graduates to work for five years in Nigeria before obtaining a full licence to practise.