by Adebowale Adejugbe

 

Can we talk? Yes? About the doctors’ strike? Yes?

Thank you, let’s get straight into it.

Using the data provided by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) as at January 2012, Nigeria has produced 42,575 doctors since independence and registered to practice in Nigeria currently is 22,000.

The implication of this number is that 20,575 doctors are either dead, living outside Nigeria (in search of greener pasture), or have abandoned the profession.

With 22,000 doctors in the federation, we are talking about 14.5 doctors per 100,000 Nigerians (using 152 million as our population). With Lagos population at about 17.5million, we have about 4.5doctors per 100,000 population using the sacked 788. [This statistics only considers the doctors in the employment of the Lagos State government.]

Of the 22,000 registered doctors, 12,821 are in private practice (PP), this leaves us with 9,179 doctors in public practice i.e. in the employment of either the federal government, state, or local governments.

Breaking it down further, we have 6,138 doctors working in the various Federal hospitals and 3,041 doctors spread across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory and their local government councils.

LUTH has 800

UCH has 1,051

UNIPORT has 602

UNN has 587

ABU Zaria has 440

UNIMAID has 312

UNILORIN has 217

UniBen has 302

Uthman Dan Fodio, Sokoto has 76

Federal Medical Centres have 1,532

OAU has 219

Total = 6,138

The simple calculation takes us to the 788, deducting the sacked 788 doctors gives us 2,253 doctors for the 36 states. It translates roughly to an average of 61 doctors per state and FCT.

I’m really sorry (for those who detest mathematics) to have put you through these jargons, but the real question is: Where did Lagos state government get the 373 doctors it employed if we have an average of 61 doctors that is available after the 788′s sack?

I don’t agree with doctors putting patient’s life in danger because of pay, but can you blame someone for asking for his entitlement? We all work for the money, (you can decide to rebuke this assertion in public, but think about it in the comfort of your rooms), try sinking the statistics on 788 doctors in the population and imagine how 373 “corper doctors” would fare. We’ll be the guinea pigs for their “after school” experiment………that is pretty SCARY!!! Ain’t it?

I’ll implore my able governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) to think about those of us who have no access to the medical facilities abroad before presenting us with “corper doctors” who are supposed to learn, assimilate and be tested before being given this big mantle of ‘dismembering’ and sowing up…our lives should count for something.

 

Follow me on twitter (@deboadejugbe)

 

Editor’s notes: Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.