Posted on: Wed 30-04-2025

In what can only be described as a sobering revelation, the Kwara State Government has admitted it simply cannot find enough doctors to recruit — even with full approval and funding in place. If this doesn’t ring alarm bells across Nigeria’s health sector, what will?

Dr. Abdulraheem Abdulmalik, Executive Secretary of the Kwara State Hospital Management Board, made the candid admission during the state’s interministerial press briefing. With only 99 doctors currently serving in government health facilities — far below the needed 180 to 200 — Kwara is staring at a full-blown medical staffing crisis, one that mirrors the growing impact of the so-called “japa syndrome.”

"We have approval to recruit doctors, but we just can't find them," Abdulmalik said. That’s not just a staffing problem — that’s a systemic red flag.

While the government’s recent salary increase for doctors helped lure back three professionals who had previously left, the fact that even those gains are so small shows how vulnerable the public health sector has become. With doctors in such high demand, they can resign in the morning and be hired again by evening — likely abroad.

And while Kwara is working to develop an app that shows doctor availability in its 45 health facilities to reduce wait times, software alone cannot substitute for a warm, skilled human being with a stethoscope.

The most alarming aspect? The crisis is even worse in rural areas, where incentives and working conditions have historically been poor. While the board says it is trying to create more competitive incentives to match what doctors earn abroad, let’s face it — unless we reimagine and reinvest in how we train, retain, and respect our health workers, Nigeria will keep exporting its best minds and importing health risks.

To tackle this, Kwara plans to launch a “sponsor-and-serve” medical education pipeline — training students with the expectation that they work for the state for as many years as they were funded. It's a smart idea in theory, but it’s also a long play, with results only visible in three to four years. What happens in the meantime?

Even the situation with nurses — while less dire — is still uncertain. As Dr. Abdulmalik acknowledged, many nurses still "japa," though social circumstances, such as family ties, slow their exodus. But leaning on gender norms as a retention strategy isn't a sustainable policy.

Despite all of this, it's worth noting that health service usage in Kwara is growing. Between January and April 2025, over 43,000 patients — including 12,000 pregnant women — sought care in state facilities. Over 1,000 surgeries were performed and 1,384 babies delivered, with caesarean rates now inching toward WHO-recommended targets. That suggests the system is resilient, but for how long?

With 30 recorded mortalities and a growing caseload, Kwara’s health sector needs more than morale — it needs manpower, modernisation, and long-term planning that works.

Promisingly, the government is also looking to partner with local drug manufacturers to cut dependency on foreign medicine imports. It’s a step in the right direction — one that combines economic prudence with healthcare sustainability.

Meanwhile, the state’s legal sector also had its hands full, with 437 criminal cases filed in Q1 2025. But justice, like healthcare, relies on systems that don’t just react — they prepare.

The message from Kwara is clear: We’re not just losing doctors — we’re losing time. And unless states and the federal government unite to make working in Nigeria not just an obligation but an opportunity, the next generation of healthcare workers may already be looking for a way out.

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