Nigeria now has 1 doctor to thousands of patients
Medical doctors have said that the country is facing manpower crisis due to Japa syndrome, with only about 55,000 doctors left to serve a population of more than 220 million people.
The doctors raised the alarm at the Ordinary General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Association of Resident Doctors, ARD, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, FNPH, Yaba, Lagos, themed: “Too Few Doctors, Too Many Patients: The Consequences of Manpower Shortage on the Mental Well-being of Nigerians.”
The doctors said no fewer than 16,000 Nigerian doctors have emigrated in the last five years, saying the country now has one doctor to 10,000 patients.
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This they said fell short of World Health Organisation’s recommended threshold of one doctor to about 600 people.
The doctors that include mental experts, also said the present situation has impacted negatively on psychiatric care and leaving millions of vulnerable Nigerians untreated.
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Nigeria now has 1 doctor to thousands of patients
“Only about 55,000 doctors remain to serve a population of over 220 million Nigerians. More than 40 million Nigerians suffer from mental health disorders, yet about 85 per cent of them do not have access to mental healthcare services,” a Consultant Psychiatrist at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Dr. Yesir Kareem said at the parley.
