“ How 1 Doctor Attends To 6 ,000 Patients In Nigeria ” – WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the current ratio of doctor to patient in Nigeria is at one doctor to 600 patients.

Professor Titus Ibekwe, the Head of the Ear,
Nose and Throat (ENT) department of the
University of Abuja, disclosed this on
Wednesday, January 25.
Prof Ibekwe said that this ratio is bad for
healthcare delivery in the country. The professor
who is also the former Vice President of Nigeria
Medical Association (NMA) said that the medical
personnel in Nigeria were constantly
overwhelmed by the large number of patients.
The professor said a lot of healthcare facilities in
the country are outdated while many are also
dilapidated.
He said: “Today as we speak, the current WHO
performance rating places Nigeria 187th out of
191 nations. That is really deplorable and not
expected of the giant of Africa.
“The WHO recommends a minimum of one
doctor to 600 patients but recent analysis
carried out by the NMA shows that in Nigeria,
one doctor is attending to 6,000 patients.
“Another issue is healthcare financing. In 2001,
right here in Abuja, all the African Heads of State
gathered and came up with a resolution which
was applauded by WHO and the United Nations
that they will dedicate 15 percent of their
country’s annual budgets to health, but since
then till today, the best we have achieved is six
percent.
“In the 2017 national budget, the allocation to
health is 4.1 per cent while in 2016 it was 4.4
per cent and we are talking of minimum of 15
per cent to achieve basic medical care that a
citizen needs.
“The National Health Act took the country 10
years before it was passed and this is three
years after its passage, implementation has not
commenced and every year one million children
die, 56,000 women die from issues around
pregnancy.
“Nigeria still rank number one in issue of HIV/
AIDs, second in woman that died from
pregnancy-related causes, one in childhood
death and tuberculosis.”
Meanwhile, doctors under the aegis of the NMA
have lamented the poor facilities in the country
while also lashing at President Muhammadu
Buhari and other top government officials for
seeking medical treatment abroad.