Nigeria’s already fragile healthcare system is facing a critical manpower deficit, as the number of licensed doctors has dropped to about 40,000, far below the estimated 300,000 needed to adequately serve a population of over 220 million, PUNCH HealthWise can authoritatively report.

In 2024, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, revealed that Nigeria had about 55,000 licensed doctors.

Speaking during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today, Pate disclosed that no fewer than 16,000 doctors had left the country in the past five years, while about 17,000 others had been transferred out of active service.

Worrisomely, a new revelation by the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, indicates that the number of practising doctors in Nigeria has declined from 55,000 to 40,000 within just one year.

In his presentation at a one-day leadership dialogue in Lagos themed “Strengthening PHC Systems: A Joint Leadership Dialogue,” Abayomi identified manpower shortage as one of the most critical challenges facing the health sector.

The dialogue, organised by the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board with support from development partners, addressed barriers hindering PHCs from meeting expectations and proposed practical solutions for building sustainable PHCs with lasting impact.

Abayomi stated that Lagos currently has only 7,000 doctors serving an estimated 30 million residents, far below the number needed for optimal care delivery.

The commissioner raised concerns over the acute shortage of health workers in the state, disclosing that the state requires an additional 33,000 doctors to meet the healthcare demands of its growing population.

“Nigeria currently has about 40,000 doctors against an estimated need of 300,000, while Lagos alone requires about 33,000 doctors but has only about 7,000,” he said.

According to him, Lagos’ doctor-to-population ratio remains far below what is required for optimal healthcare delivery, noting that the state’s doctors are serving an estimated population of nearly 30 million people.

To address the shortfall, Abayomi said the state government is investing in its newly established University of Medicine and Health.

“Within five years, UMH will produce about 2,500 healthcare workers annually, including laboratory scientists and other essential cadres,” he stated.

The mass exodus of healthcare professionals popularly known as japa syndrome, especially doctors, nurses, and pharmacists has remained a major concern in Nigeria.

A 2017 survey conducted by a Nigerian polling organisation in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch revealed that about 88 per cent of Nigerian doctors were seeking job opportunities abroad at the time.

Healthcare leaders have attributed the worsening brain drain to poor funding, dilapidated infrastructure, harsh working conditions, insecurity, and weak policy implementation.

According to the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom, the number of Nigerian-trained doctors practising in the UK has climbed to 11,001.

The President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Prof. Bala Audu, recently warned that Nigeria has moved beyond passive brain drain and has become a direct recruitment hub for foreign governments seeking skilled medical professionals.

In an interview, Audu revealed that international recruiters now visit Nigeria to directly hire doctors—particularly specialists such as obstetricians, gynaecologists, and paediatricians—offering them superior working conditions, remuneration, and infrastructure.

He lamented that while Nigeria’s population continues to grow and mortality rates remain high, the country is losing specialists at an alarming rate.

“Many of our doctors are not even going abroad to look for jobs. Foreign governments now come into Nigeria to pick doctors and take them away,” Audu said.

“We are still having more births, yet maternal deaths remain high because the skilled birth attendants who should care for these women are reducing every day.”

Audu added that in some specialties, the number of Nigerian doctors practising abroad may already exceed those still working within the country, a situation worsened by the government’s failure to significantly improve doctors’ welfare despite existing policy frameworks.

Experts have warned that with the current pace of emigration, it would be impossible for Nigeria to produce enough health workers to meet its growing healthcare demands. They estimate that it would take at least 20 years to train the over 400,000 health workers required to close the gap.

A former President of the NMA, Prof. Mike Ogirima, described Nigeria’s doctor-to-patient ratio as “horrible,” noting that the country currently has about one doctor to 8,000 patients—far below the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of one doctor to 600 patients.

The Federal Government said it had intensified monitoring and screening procedures at all points of entry in response to the ongoing outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Director of Port Health Services at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Akpan Nse, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with Saturday PUNCH on Friday.

Nse also noted that additional staff had been employed to strengthen border surveillance in the country.

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo declared an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Kasai Province, where 28 suspected cases and 16 deaths, including four health workers, had been reported as of September 5, 2025.

The outbreak comes at a time when much of Central and West Africa is grappling with overlapping health and humanitarian crises, including cholera, malnutrition, and population displacement.

The DRC’s last outbreak of Ebola virus disease occurred in the north-western Equateur Province in April 2022.

It was brought under control within three months.

In Kasai Province, previous Ebola outbreaks were reported in 2007 and 2008. Overall, the country has experienced 15 outbreaks since the disease was first identified in 1976.

Ebola virus disease is a rare but severe, often fatal illness in humans.

It is transmitted to people through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as fruit bats (believed to be the natural hosts). Human-to-human transmission occurs through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person, contaminated objects, or the body of someone who died from the disease.

In the ongoing outbreak, samples tested on September 3 at the National Institute of Biomedical Research in the capital, Kinshasa, confirmed that the cause was Ebola Zaire, a strain of the Ebola virus.

Dr Nse noted that although Nigeria was at risk of importing the virus due to high levels of international travel with the DRC, Port Health Services was on alert and had strengthened surveillance to prevent this.

He said, “We have intensified surveillance at all points of entry across the country—airports, land borders, and seaports. Every inbound traveller coming from Congo to Nigeria is thoroughly screened, and we collect their medical history through mandatory forms.

“We have also reactivated our portals. Every passenger on every flight coming to Nigeria from Congo is screened upon arrival. This applies to airports, seaports, and land borders. Even if passengers transit through Congo on their way to Nigeria, they must undergo screening.

“In addition, with support from WHO, we have recruited more staff to enhance surveillance. Increasing the workforce allows us to effectively prevent the importation of the virus and ensure thorough screening at all borders.”

He added that some private organisations had partnered the Federal Government to ensure that thermal scanners at airports remained fully functional.

Meanwhile, the WHO has released $500,000 from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies to support the response to the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in the DR Congo.

Announcing this at a media briefing on global health issues on Friday, the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, disclosed that 28 suspected cases and 16 deaths had been reported so far, including four health workers.

He highlighted that the UN body already had staff on the ground in Kasai, with more on the way.

“We’re joining rapid response teams to trace contacts and find cases; we’re collecting and testing samples, and we’re providing technical expertise in surveillance, infection prevention and control, treatment, risk communication, and more. WHO has also delivered personal protective equipment, laboratory equipment, medical supplies, and a mobile laboratory.

“We had previously prepositioned 2000 doses of Ebola vaccine in Kinshasa, which we are releasing to vaccinate contacts and health workers.  This is the 16th outbreak of Ebola in the DRC, and the government has rich experience from those previous outbreaks,” the WHO boss stated.