The long-running depletion of Nigeria’s health workforce has taken a turn for the worse with the doctor-to-patient ratio in the country now 1:10,000 as
The NIPSS DG lamented that this trend of skill migration from the health sector is happening when the country’s population is expanding geometrically.
The president, Nigerian Medical Association , Dr. Ojinma Uche, called for the establishment of a Health Development Bank to facilitate development of the health care sector. “Out of the N464 billion allocated to the Health sector, only N59 billion was for capital expenditure. The news got worse after COVID-19 lockdown as the budget was revised downward and the Health budget was cut in half.
USCDC country director in Nigeria, Dr Mary Boyd, disclosed this at the opening of a two-day CDC Biannual Programme Performance Review Meeting and Symposium in Abuja yesterday with the theme: “Working Together to Bring Nigeria Closer to HIV Epidemic Control”. The minister of health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, in his keynote address, lauded the USCDC for its ceaseless efforts and achievements in tackling HIV in Nigeria.
He went on: “I take this opportunity to also recognise the partnerships with CDC through which led us to pandemic preparedness and emergency response system and structures have been strengthened in building on the rapid and general support to emergency response to COVID-19. “All that we’re asking as Nigeria, the Nigerian government, in terms of the way we think about resources, is that it is time to normalise this. It is time to go back to the strategy of efficient ways to do things and fill in the capacity gaps or system deficiencies.