The Executive Director of Project Pink Blue, Runcie C.W.Chidebe has expressed concern that in Nigeria, there are 74,543 registered physicians, however, only an estimated 40,000 are practicing in the country for over 200 million population.
Chidebe, while briefing newsmen in Abuja on the need to declare a State of Emergency on shortage of health workforce in Nigeria and the launch of Upgrade Oncology said that in Nigeria, rural urban migration has also caused great imbalance in distribution of health workers and distorted access to quality health care. He said the reasons for this problematic migration is not farfetched as the health worker contend with high clinical workload, poor healthcare system, poor remuneration, corruption in the healthcare system, poor working conditions, security challenges, inadequate production of graduates from the health training institutions, lack of necessary facilities, poor value for medical professionals and other reasons.
He estimated that in Nigeria, the density of physicians to a patient is 4 doctors per 10,000 patients and 16.1 nurses and midwives per 10,000 patients, which is less than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations of 1 doctor to 600 patients and the critical threshold of 23 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 patients.“It is estimated that Nigeria will approximately need 149,852 doctors and 471,353 nurses by 2030, only 99,120 doctors and 333,494 nurses will be available based on the growth rate.“ With the above data, by 2030, Nigeria will have a shortage of 50,120 doctors and 137,859 nurses, translating to 33.45% and 29.25% gap in doctors’ and nurses’ supply.For a population of 201 million, Nigeria has less than 90 clinical oncologists (that is, cancer doctors) who provide cancer treatment to over 100,000 cancer patients across the cancer centres.
Also, the President, Nigeria Cancer Society, Dr Adamu Al-Hassan explained that Cancer is relatively common, accounting for the 2nd most common cause of mortality after cardiovascular disease worldwide with about 18.1 million new cancer cases and 9.6 million cancer- deaths in 2018. Also, a Breast Cancer Survivor and Programme Cordinator, Project Pink Blue, Gloria Okwu said that to support the Nigerian government’s National Cancer Control Plan 2018-2022, Project PINK BLUE with support from the U.S. Mission in Nigeria in 2018 initiated Upgrade Oncology, a U. S. – Nigeria Science & Technology Exchange Program.
She said the goal is to strengthen the capacity of the Nigerian healthcare workers and oncology professionals through training in diverse oncology areas, in partnership with Fulbright Specialist Program and Federal Ministry of Health. Also, the Executive Officer of Aspire Coronation Trust foundation, Osayi Alile said Nigeria remains a major contributor to the cancer burden on the African continent.
