Nigerian doctors have warned that the healthcare system is in crisis, with only about 55,000 active doctors serving more than 220 million people and roughly 16,000 having emigrated in the past five years, deepening gaps in mental health care access.
Nigeria’s doctors are sounding the alarm — and the numbers are stark. At a recent gathering in Lagos, members of the Association of Resident Doctors warned that the country’s healthcare system is buckling under a severe manpower shortage, with barely 55,000 doctors left to care for a population north of 220 million.
The warning came at the Ordinary General Meeting and Scientific Conference of ARD, held at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, under the theme “Too Few Doctors, Too Many Patients: The Consequences of Manpower Shortage on the Mental Well-being of Nigerians.” Mental health specialists at the event said the shortage is hitting psychiatric care especially hard, leaving millions of vulnerable Nigerians without treatment.
Confirming the crisis to Vanguard, President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Prof. Omoti Ernest, said the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria has registered more than 130,000 doctors over the years, but only around 55,000 are still actively practicing within the country’s borders. That works out to roughly one doctor for every 3,600 to 4,000 Nigerians — a ratio he says falls far short of the WHO’s recommended “one doctor to about 600 people.”
Adding to the strain: no fewer than 16,000 Nigerian doctors have packed their bags in just the last five years, part of the now-familiar “Japa” exodus. Omoti said many trained professionals have either emigrated or stepped away from clinical practice altogether, leaving those who remain to shoulder an increasingly impossible workload.
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