Otabor: Nigerian Hospitals Witnessing Drought of Medical Personnel

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

A medical practitioner and the Managing Director of Alliance Hospitals in Abuja, Dr. Christopher Otabor, has said that major hospitals in the country are currently grappling with the challenge of retaining quality health workers in various specialties.

Otabor revealed this when the Guild of Medical Directors paid a solidarity visit to the Alliance Hospital in Abuja yesterday.

He said that unlike what used to be the case where doctors seeking to engage in residency training flock around teaching hospitals and other specialist hospitals, the reverse is the case as these hospitals are now witnessing decline in applicants for training.

Speaking on the continued exodus of health workers from Nigeria for greener pastures abroad, Otabor said that situation has become worrisome, adding that currently the number of Nigerian doctors abroad far outnumber those practicing their trade locally.

According to Otabo, there was hardly any flight out of the country which does not have a Nigerian doctor bidding the country bye-bye.

He said the country was presently witnessing less strikes and agitations in the health sector not because their welfare had improved, but because most of the health workers now have an option to leave for greener pastures abroad.

“Our Teaching Hospitals are emptying everyday.  Before now , doctors used to apply for spaces for residency training and maybe out of 50 that will apply, 10 will be taken but now the Teaching Hospitals are begging doctors to come because whenever they advertise, the doctors are there to fill the space. 

“What does that mean, they have left . So our teaching hospitals, our specialist hospitals and to an extent private hospitals are bereft of qualified doctors and specialists in other fields of medicine,” he said. 

Otabor further said that, “the number of Nigerian doctors abroad are more than those who are within the country.”

“For instance, if you take out all the Nigerian doctors in the United Kingdom today, their healthcare system will collapse. Yet we don’t have up to 50 per cent of what we need locally. 

“The doctor to patients ratio that is acceptable according to the WHO is one doctor to 600 persons. However, today doctor – patient ratio is 10 times higher. The belief that Nigeria has one doctor to 6000 persons is an under estimation. 

“Today, we are talking about one doctor to 10,000 Nigerians. Another problem is that the ratio is very high but there is also inequality in terms of doctors distribution.” 

He said there were some places where you can’t find one doctor, especially in villages and rural areas.

“How are they going to have access to doctors? And the way it is for doctors, that’s how it is for nurses, radiographers and other healthcare professionals,” he said.

He said that the government needs to invest more in hospital infrastructure, tackling insecurity and in procuring the right equipment so as to motivate well-trained health workers to stay back in the country.