Nigeria’s healthcare workforce is under severe strain, with more than 15,000 doctors having left the country since 2014, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) warned on Monday. The association said the sustained loss of skilled medical professionals could leave hospitals critically understaffed in the coming years.
The President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Mohammad Suleiman, disclosed this while speaking at the opening of a five-day training programme on effective policymaking and strategic leadership for NARD leaders. The programme is being held at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State.
Dr. Suleiman said 4,700 doctors emigrated in 2024 alone and warned that Nigeria could lose another 15,000 doctors within the next 10 years if the current trend persists.
“Facts don’t lie. Figures don’t lie,” he said. “Every year, we produce between 2,000 and 3,000 doctors, yet we are losing far more than we produce. If this continues, Nigeria cannot survive it.”
According to him, Nigeria currently has fewer than 30,000 doctors serving a population of more than 240 million people, a situation that places immense pressure on the remaining workforce and further undermines service delivery across hospitals nationwide.
“This is not sustainable,” Dr. Suleiman said, warning that within the next 10 to 15 years, hospitals may no longer have enough doctors available to attend to patients.
He explained that NARD’s ongoing engagements with the Federal Government are aimed at preventing a collapse of the health system and addressing workforce challenges through the implementation of existing agreements.
Dr. Suleiman stressed that the association is not making fresh financial demands but is instead calling for the full implementation of previously agreed policies relating to employment processes, workload management, membership certification, and local training.
“These are agreements that will not cost the government a penny,” he said.
He also expressed optimism that improved understanding between NARD and the Federal Government could help avert future industrial actions in the health sector.
Earlier, the Director-General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Prof. Ayo Omotayo, said the training programme would equip young medical leaders with the skills needed to engage policymakers more effectively and to contribute meaningfully to reforms in the health sector.
