{"id":123560,"date":"2025-11-04T10:23:39","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T09:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=123560"},"modified":"2025-11-04T10:23:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T09:23:39","slug":"nigeria-facing-shortage-of-medical-doctors-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nigeria-facing-shortage-of-medical-doctors-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria Facing Shortage of medical Doctors\u2014 Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>By Tracy Moses<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, has disclosed that Nigeria is grappling with a severe shortage of medical personnel, with one doctor currently attending to about 3,500 patients across the country.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Salako made the revelation during a press briefing on Monday in Abuja, where he noted that a global scarcity of healthcare professionals has intensified cross-border migration as countries compete for limited medical talent.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The briefing comes against the backdrop of the nationwide strike by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which began on Saturday over issues related to welfare, poor working conditions, and unmet government commitments.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Resident doctors have repeatedly decried manpower shortages, unpaid entitlements, and the absence of a clear retention strategy, all of which have worsened Nigeria\u2019s doctor-to-patient ratio and strained the country\u2019s healthcare system.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;There is a shortage of health workers globally, and Nigeria is not exempt. At the moment, we have one doctor to about 3,500 patients. This clearly falls short of the World Health Organization\u2019s recommendation,\u201d Salako said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He explained that even when the government seeks to recruit more health workers, the pool of available professionals is often too small to meet demand, largely due to migration pressures.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;This global shortage is driving movement across borders. It\u2019s just like economics, when there\u2019s scarcity, demand rises and people move to where opportunities exist,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Salako described the crisis as part of a wider global challenge, further compounded by Nigeria\u2019s economic realities. He, however, assured that the Federal Government is stepping up efforts to strengthen local capacity and train more health professionals.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;It\u2019s a worldwide problem, but for us, economic challenges are making it worse. Still, we are working hard to address it,\u201d he stated.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The minister revealed that the government is investing in expanding medical training institutions to increase the production of health workers, though he admitted that the results would not be immediate.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Of course, it will take time for new intakes to graduate and fill the gap. Some countries have implemented policies that treat health workers as national assets, retaining them locally or deploying them strategically abroad. Nigeria is moving in that direction,\u201d Salako explained.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He also addressed concerns over the employment of locum (temporary) doctors in federal hospitals rather than permanent staff, clarifying that hospital chief executives have been authorized to hire locum doctors pending formal recruitment.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We are aware that many doctors are leaving, so we\u2019ve empowered hospital managements to engage locum staff to fill critical gaps temporarily,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Salako further explained that the recruitment of permanent staff involves a lengthy approval process that includes the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and several government agencies.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Permanent recruitment takes time because it involves multiple levels, applications, screenings, and integration into the IPPIS system. It\u2019s not a process that can be done every day,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>According to him, the ministry has now adopted a two-track employment approach, conducting annual recruitments through government waivers for permanent staff, while allowing locum engagements between cycles.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The minister said efforts are underway to introduce a standardized protocol to guide hospital administrators on the terms and duration of locum appointments.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We are developing a universal framework for hiring locums,\u00a0 detailing contract terms, tenure, and ensuring that those who serve temporarily are given priority when permanent positions open up,\u201d Salako said.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tracy Moses The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, has disclosed that Nigeria is grappling with a severe shortage of medical personnel, with one doctor&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":123561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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