Ngige’s Comment On Nigerian Doctors Outflow Unfortunate, Baseless – Ikubese
A former Presidential Aspirant and Convener of YesWeFit Revolutionary Movement, Dr. Thomas-Wilson Ikubese has condemned the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige over his statement on Channels television’s Sunrise Daily recently, that he was not bothered that medical doctors are leaving Nigeria in droves, saying that the nation has a surplus of them and must therefore “export” to other countries.
According to Ikubese, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria’s Oct 2018 publication, stated that of the 72,000 nationally-registered Nigerian doctors, only 35,000 are practising in Nigeria.
In his words, “the World Health Organisation stated that, for optimal healthcare to be achieved, a nation needs one doctor to 600 patients, i.e Doctor/Patient ratio of 1:600.
“In Nigeria, we have 35,000 doctors taking care of 200 million people, i.e Doctor/Patient ratio of 1:6,000.
“So, Nigeria is about 10 times short of the WHO recommended Doctor/Patient ratio!
“Where then did Dr Ngige get his statistics from, that Nigeria has “surplus” of doctors?”
He went on, “that Dr Ngige himself is a Medical Doctor (I’m careful not to use the word “Medical Practitioner”, because I don’t know when last he practiced Medicine) makes his utterance herein most unfortunate!”
According to him, “when those who should know are “not aware”, where then lies the hope for our redemption?”
On a note of saddening finality, Dr Ikubese who is the Medical Director of Sckye hospitals ltd Akure, Ondo state said, “let it be known, that Nigeria is in short supply of doctors, ten times below the recommendation of the World Health Organisation!”
