Nigeria Has Only 1,500 Registered Obstetrics, Gynaecologists – Expert

An expert has revealed that Nigeria has only 1,500 registered obstetrics and gynaecologists in a population of about170 million people, which makes Nigeria one of the countries with poor doctor to patient ratio. It also lacks the initiative to manage the few available. This invariably means that a doctor is expected to attend to 113,334 patients. This was disclosed at the weekend by the president of the Society for Gynaecology and Obstetrics (SOGON) Prof Brian Adinma, at the end of the 9th international congress and 49th Annual General Meeting of the society in Abuja.Lamenting the attitude of the government towards doctors, he stated that even some of the few available are not properly absorbed for pre-registration workmanship as many can be seen roaming the streets without employment and incentives to encourage them.“Nigeria has a poor doctor to patient ratio but it’s also on record that Nigeria has not been able to manage the number of doctors that are available. It has been revealed that there are so many house officers that could not even be absorbed for pre-registration housemanship. This is poor management of the workforce and the manpower need that we have.“There are little things we can do as a nation to balance and to utilise optimally the ones that we already have on ground.