Nigeria risks century-long wait to fix doctor shortage – Osibogun

Nigeria could face up to a hundred years before meeting its medical workforce needs if urgent measures are not taken to address the nation’s doctor shortage, Professor Akin Osibogun has warned.

Osibogun, a public health expert and former Chief Medical Director of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), issued the warning while speaking at a health symposium in Lagos on Wednesday. He said that the country’s healthcare system continues to struggle due to the mass migration of medical professionals, inadequate training capacity, and insufficient investment in the health sector.

According to him, Nigeria currently produces far fewer doctors than required to meet global standards, and the situation is worsened by the continuous exodus of trained professionals to Europe, North America, and the Middle East in search of better opportunities.

“At the rate we are losing our doctors and the rate we are producing new ones, it may take close to a century for Nigeria to have an adequate doctor-to-patient ratio,” Osibogun said. “This is a serious concern that calls for strategic planning and deliberate government intervention.”

He highlighted that while the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends one doctor per 600 patients, Nigeria’s current ratio is about one doctor to over 5,000 patients. This gap, he said, is unsustainable and has contributed to poor health outcomes across the country.

Osibogun urged the Federal Government to declare the health workforce crisis a national emergency. He called for stronger policies to retain local talent, better funding for medical schools, and improved working conditions to discourage brain drain.

“The migration of health workers is not only a loss to the medical profession but also to national development,” he added. “We are training doctors for other countries at a cost to our own taxpayers.”

The professor also advised that technology and digital health tools should be deployed to bridge service gaps in underserved areas. He noted that while innovations such as telemedicine can improve access, they cannot replace the need for sufficient, well-trained personnel.

Osibogun called for collaboration between government, universities, and private stakeholders to expand training capacity and create more postgraduate opportunities for young medical graduates.

“Health is a national investment, not an expense,” he emphasized. “Unless we treat it as such, we will continue to lose the very people who should be keeping our population healthy.”

Experts at the event echoed his sentiments, urging both federal and state governments to implement sustainable policies to retain healthcare workers and rebuild public confidence in Nigeria’s health system.