A shocking statistic just revealed indicates that it will take Nigeria another 100 years, at present levels, to produce medical doctors to meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard which stipulates a doctor patient ratio of 1:600 or at most 1:1000.
With an estimated population of 170 million, the country has only 35,000 certified medical doctors which comes to a ratio of 1: 4,857, a far cry from the global standards.
In comparative terms, countries like Cuba, Belgium, and Belarus have since improved upon the WHO standard in doctor to patient ratio which now stands at 1-170, 1-220, 1- 200 respectively. Conversely, countries like Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique are down the ladder with a doctor to patient ratio of 1: 50,000, 1: 50,000 and 1: 33,500 respectively.
Part of Nigeria’s problem as it battles to improve her standing is that the study of medicine is becoming progressively prohibitive and elitist with undergraduates paying as much as N3 million per session, thereby making it unaffordable for the brilliant but poor students. This cost impediment is worsened by corruption in the system where, in addition to the official financial demands, and regardless of their intellectual prowess, students are expected to grease the palms of their lecturers in what has come to be known as money for grades syndrome or in local lingo ‘sorting’.
Depending on which they are capable of in terms of gender and material possession, students are compelled by circumstances beyond their control to compromise hard work, decency and decorum for certificates. In the process, quality and competence are the first casualties. Worse still is that the medical schools operate out-dated curriculum that have lost touch with what is obtainable in advanced academic environments even in Africa.
It is from this standpoint that we welcome government’s decision to review the medical curriculum after which it will set a benchmark as the minimum standard in the study of medicine. The new curriculum, when it becomes effective, is expected to include the teaching of Information Communication Technology (ICT), alternative medicine and entrepreneurial skills, among others.
It will also look into admission policy that is, at present, in our view, defective because, it is, in the main, cash and carry and, possibly consider quota system, as well as strict adherence to required necessities in terms of clinical colleges, especially in private and state-owned universities. Infrastructural deficiencies in terms of laboratories and libraries must be addressed in order to minimise pressure by establishing more medical schools.
However, as laudable as this plan may be, and as much as competence will be stressed, they will amount to nothing if the cost issue is not addressed to provide scholarships and or grants to encourage, especially, brilliant students from poor backgrounds.
Also, adequate funding must be provided for that field of complex study in strict compliance with set standards.
It is retrogressive, in our opinion, to compare Nigeria with other developing countries also caught up in this quagmire for the simple reason that the country is regarded as the giant of Africa and must set a good example for other nations in the continent. Part of this good example must include a code of acceptable behaviour, private and professional, for the staff of these schools.
Source: Leadership News
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