120 Years Required To Produce Required Medical Doctors — Minister

Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, on Friday said that the quest to reverse the brain drain in the education and health sectors informed the establishment of Federal University of Health Sciences.

The university is located in Otukpo, Benue State.

The minister, who stated this in his goodwill message at the maiden matriculation of the university on Friday, said the establishment of the university was to bridge the gap between doctor/patients ratio which he said fell short of the World Health Organisation recommendation.

“The ratio stipulates one doctor to every 600 patients. This contrasts with the current one to 6000 ratio in Nigeria,” he said.

Adamu who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Sonny Echono, lamented that it would take Nigeria about 120 years to have the number of doctors it needs ‘assuming all our doctors remain in the country’, he added.

The minister further lamented the quality of training, competences and skills needed in the medical profession which he said had become problematic.

He said, “This is due to a combination of inadequate personnel and facilities.

“This was further exacerbated by the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic which exposed the weak institutional capacity for disease control and surveillance in the country.

“To overcome these challenges, the Federal Government established the Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo, the first in the country to bridge the gap with benefit of a clear vision, strong leadership, an outstanding academic body and innovative pedagogical model and management framework.

“In summary, the institution is established to provide specialised training, research and facilities in the field of medical and health sciences that will reverse the brain drain in the education and health sectors of the Nigerian economy.”