Nigeria appears headed for a grave health crisis as the nation’s
hospitals face a severe shortage of qualified medical staff in key areas of
specialisation, forcing thousands of patients abroad yearly. Those who are
unable to afford travelling abroad are left to die or placed on queues that in
some hospital last years.
PREMIUM TIMES investigations reveal that with the country taking
the negative lead in several global health indicators, health personnel who
should help reverse the tide are in short supply across the country with
training and recruitment increasingly ebbing.
Currently, the country has only 600 paediatricians to care for
its over 40 million children, compared to the United Kingdom’s over 5,000 for
20 million children. The figures are more depressing in other areas of medical
specialisation. With the rising cases of cancer across the country, there are
only a little above 15 oncologists; 10 neurosurgeons to attend to issues
related to the nervous system; and 120 urologists to manage conditions related
to the male urinary tract and reproductive organs such as prostate, kidney,
bladder cancers, prostate cancer, testicular cancers, infertility in men,
sexual dysfunction etc.
There are currently no podiatrists in the country- a doctor that
treats conditions of the foot, ankle and related structures of the leg; a key
specialisation considering the nation’s teeming diabetics.
While all hospitals in the country are affected, the pressure
caused by the shortage is by far clearer in some hospitals than others. At the
Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja, for instance, the
shortage of doctors has led to many resident doctors remaining on call for a
month, overworked. Patients in need of special care are forced to remain on
queues for weeks, months and, in some cases, years.
This is not good news. We are losing our best brains to other countries, I believe it's called "brain drain"
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