The Federal Government has stated that it has increased the enrolment quota in medical, nursing, and other health professional schools from 28,000 to 64,000 yearly.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate on Friday said this at the sectoral ministerial press briefing to mark the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu in office in Abuja.
The Minister stated that the increase in quota became necessary due to the fact that Nigeria is losing its healthcare workforce with many leaving the country in search of greener pastures.
“We have doubled the intake, the enrollment, the quotas of medical schools, nursing schools, and other health professionals’ schools from an enrollment target of 28,000 a year to 64,000 now.
“That is just the first step, the education sector will have to play its role. The states will have to play in to improve the infrastructure, the training, and the tools to produce more healthcare workforce because we need to produce more healthcare workforce given that we’re losing some so that we can serve the population of this country,” he said.
Pate stated that more than 2,400 health workers – doctors, nurses, and midwives are being recruited in facilities to provide essential health services to Nigerians in rural areas.
He also noted that the Federal Government has disbursed the first tranche of N25bn of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and the National Health Insurance Authority.
“We put a condition that states that will access those have to comply with the fiduciary guidelines that have been provided, responding to lapses that have been observed over here so that the resources go to Nigerians.
“Twenty-three states have received those funds, and I believe that the rest of the states are just about to complete and receive their financing to channel through the PHCs,” he said.