IGBINEDION UNIVERSITY, OKADA
OBA OKUNADE SIJUWADE COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
THE PROBLEM OF INTERNSHIP POSITIONS IN NIGERIA
PROF. LAWRENCE C. CHIEDOZI
DEAN, SCHOOL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
AT THE SWEARING-IN CEREMONY OF OGBEBOR CLASS
APRIL 10, 2017
The World Health Organization has estimated that optimal ratio of doctors to patients is 1:600 and at most 1:1000 patients.Nigeria with an estimated population of 180 million needs 300,000 or at least 180,000 doctors to meet the WHO stipulation. As pointed out in a news conference by Prof. Folashade Ogunsola, President of the Association of Colleges of Medicine of Nigeria, “Nigeria needs no fewer than 237,000 doctors but has only 35,000 doctors.”
There are currently 31 fully approved and 6 partially approved medical schools in Nigeria. These medial schools can potentially produce about 3,155 doctors a year based on their current Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria mandated admission quotas. Thus it will take close to 100 years for Nigeria to produce the number of doctors needed today. Today however, Igbinedion University contributesher quota; over 40 newly minted medical doctors, in attempting to help solve the doctor shortage problem of our fatherland.
The training of medical graduates is only complete after the Medical and Dental Council mandatory one year of internship in an MDCN approved hospital program. Without fulfilling this requirement, a medical graduate cannot obtain license to practice medicine.
The current MDCN approved Internship Positions in Nigeria for 3,155 potential graduates are as follows:
- Internship positions approval for 22 Teaching Hospitals 1,536
- Internship positions approval for 21 Federal Medical Centers 412
- Internship positions approval for 36 General/Specialist/Military Hospitals 710
Total Number of approved internship positions in Nigeria on paper 2,750
Most hospitals deliberately avoid filling all their approved internship positions.
Indeed it is estimated that only 80% of approved internship positions are filled because the hospitals do not have adequate funds to fill all their MDCN approved internship positions.
Thus the total number of internship positons actually available fall down to only 2,200.
Therefore the annual shortfall in available internship positions,that is, the number of medical graduates who are unable to find internship positons is up to 955.
So, Nigeria, a country that is suffering from acute shortage of doctors, is allowing almost 1,000 trained medical doctors to stay at home annually because of the absence funds to pay their salaries.
Thescope of my presentation today in quite limited.
It seeks only to highlight the disgraceful difficulties encountered by young medical graduates seeking to fulfill government mandated requirement to licensure.
The practice of modern medicine actually requires the expertise of well-trained Specialists in many Specialties and Sub-specialties of Medicine. Nigeria’s positon in respect of the needed number of Specialists is truly abysmal. Nigeria does not have enough Specialists in the major specialties: Internal Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics and Obstetrics & Gynecology. The situation is even worse if one considers the major subspecialties like Neonatology for ill new born babies, Orthopedic for Trauma and Accidents victims, Cardiology for patients who have serious heart disease, ENT for ear, nose and throat problems, to name only a few. The story is the same if one looks at the ancillary medical personnel that are needed for truly modern medical management. Thus young medical graduates often spend over 3 years after internship and youth corps seeking a place for residency in the specialty of their choice. Meanwhilealmost sixtyyears after independence Nigeria still needs to spend up to $1billion annually for overseas specialist medical treatment.
Viable solutions to theseproblems however lie in the willingness of government to solve the problems.
Accordingly:
- I call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to institute Federal Government funded Youth Corps-like program for Medical Internships in Nigeria.
- I call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to undertake a comprehensive evaluation, and begin funding now, the training of Medical Personnel needed by Nigeria for the next 10 years.
Thank you for listening to me.
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