The practice and spirit of medicine in Nigeria is currently at it's lowest ebb. The Government both at the federal level and in various states have continued to pay lip service to the plight of doctors.

It is rather disturbing that out of 50,000 doctors, only 18,000 are currently practising in the country, 9,000 of that said to be in Lagos alone leaving the other sates to share 9,000 doctors some of which have crossed to other industries to make ends meet.

With a doctor-patient ratio of 1:7, is it not time Nigerians doctors began to raise alarm? I think it is also the duty of every Nigerian to wake up and fight for their right to good health care.






- www.naijamedico.com

True Talk.

The doctor prob is a really sad one, these are people who usually were the brightest in their highschool classes(no pride there) but many years later they are usually one of the poorest of their graduating high school class, quite unfortunate! we know brains are like women they go where they are appreciated!so its inevitable for the mass exodus to be. Its even more unfortunate that we live in a country where everyone tries to be a doctor, where drug abuse is the order of the day, where antiboitics are sold freely, where nurses(esp auxiliaries)treat patients at home and the lab techie believes he is a doctor after training for three leisurely years, frankly i wonder if it will ever change but if it will then its all about the right legislation at all tiers of govt, and an admission by all paramedics that their training just isnt for diagnoses and patient management
E go better!

Hi everyone,

Just read an interesting piece about some state governments employing foreign doctors to fill in the gap created by declining numbers of doctors in Nigeria (www.naijamedico.com/blog). This quick fix mentality is only as useful as repetitive dialysis in a renal failure patient - instead of spending money fixing the problem once and for all, they'd rather use a quick fix, in the long run spending more and more money achieving nothing. Me self, I go jand oh!

then change your screen name to 'runawaydoctor'

Is that the statistics for real?

@ Radiant, The story is for real (visit http://www.independentngonline.com/?c=122&a=12234 or www.naijamedico.com)

Or google "global shortage of medical doctors"

@reindeer, over 32,000 of us will be answering that name, thus "we will be legion"

@Radiant, Nothing can be more real. You see what baffles me about this whole thing is why the Nigerian people are not joining us in this battle. It is not just the doctors battle because that is the misconception.

The doctors have the know how to take care of themselves but what happens when the other Nigerians get sick and don't have the money to run abroad?

Damn! That's messed up!!! We really need Doctors for real.

Surprisingly, the Nigerian nurses are saying government should not increase doctors pay. Tha it will be discrminatory.
The nurses should get up and fight for their rights than sit back to grumble at any pittance about to come the doctors way.

During the easter weekend, I came across about 6 medical doctors who want to migrate to the U.S. @ are currently in the residency program, 4 have refused to enter into it and one is a fresh graduate. What is the government waiting for? Our health system is fashioned after the British structurally and partly functionally. Why is her government unwilling to invest in the healthcare sector in a similar manner? More than 60% of Nigerian trained doctors are outside her shores. 50% of the rest are in Lagos, most of whom are about to leave. It is pathetic!

Hmmm, like i have always known, brains are like women, they only go where they are appreciated.
And whats all these talk about being 'second class' citizen elsewhere? abeg who told you u are first class in nija anyway? think again!

Do you have any idea that only 20% of children in Nigeria are in primary school? Most of our future leaders will be unable to read and write. Take a closer look, our health, educational and power sectors have completely crumbled. We as a nation instead of marching forward have succeeded in marching backwards to an almost immediate post civil war era!!

Wow, who is the minister of health or whatever they call it? And what is he /she doing?

The Ministry of Health is currently been overseen by the current Minister of Labour, until a replacement for Prof. Grange is gotten.

I really do not blame the doctors who are changing to other profession or flying out of the country. The reason being that, a graduate of a ridiculous course studied in the university will get a good paying job in the bank & oil companies while a doctor having toiled the whole 7 plus Bleep years comes out, searching for job endlessly. It will only be by God's mercies that they find a job and even if they do. Its ends up being a so meager salary. That is not motivating enough.

Its only a doctor with a good mind to practice & help the nation that will sit back with the hope to achieve his/her aim. But truthfully this people are very few.

Its actually really sad when we see the rate at which most young peeps are hell bent on making money after graduating. That is normal tho to fight to excel, but most ridiculous when we see doctors as bankers. I couldn'tt help but shake my head when i saw medical doctors in banks.

I think the only thing that would have chased them out of their profession is insufficient paychecks. Hence, It will do the government good to do somethings about increasing their allowances.

P.S i'm not a Doctor oh, but speaking for a Doctor.

@jkpretty

doctors who are passionate about practicing in Naija are those who witnessed the glory of the practice back in those days. These memories are strong motivation. We the younger ones who never witnessed these, and are more aware of advances in medicine being made in developed countries, as well as the much better standards of living are filled with doubts about our future. Many of us in residency training feel we have completely lost out youths. The self sacrifice is too extreme. Like it is written, it is wiser to take care of the log in your eye before you help your neighbor remove the speck from his or hers.

God dey. It seems na from 2050 things fit start to betta for hia. By dat time, if man no careful, man fit done kpai or de use walking stick for hia

I wonder when our leaders will learn. First, a crippling power crises, now food crises, tomorrow a health crises, I wonder when they will learn

No, they won' t learn . They go overseas for their medical attention.

I think its about time the Govt declared an emergency in the health sector. The inaction seems to me like what an ostrich does when it sees danger approaching, it hides its head in the sand, believing that the problem will go away,

I think this thread is an opportunity for me to say this,they are diseases that doesn't exist but herbal doctors claim they exist.People like Dr Ojei Iris {Medical Foundation},and so on.Looking at the man's profile and personality he claims that staph aureus is an STD whereas Professors in UCH claim that staph is just a bacteria infection.Please kindly enlighten me on this and where to get full treatment for it.Please i would appreciate your candid opinion on this.

Most herbalist blame Staph for everything evil, from having stubborn children to a troublesome landlord!

Staph actually refers to a microbe Staphylococcus aureus. It has other relatives like Staphylococcus albus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Staphylococcus saprophyticus, all of which cause various specific disease entities in immuno-competent and immuno-compromised individuals. I suggest you stop paying attention to herbal practitioners, perhaps they will interpret your inattention as caused by staph