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By Emmanuel Adeleke
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, has disclosed that the enrolment quota in medical, nursing, and other health professional schools has been increased from 28,000 to 64,000 in one year.
Pate made this disclosure at the sectoral ministerial press briefing in Abuja to mark the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu in office, on Friday.
Over the years, health workers in the country have always moved outside the country to practice.
Experts identified the development to inadequate equipment, worsening insecurity, poor working conditions,l and poor salary structure.
However, Pate said there is no cause for alarm, adding that Federal Government is working round the clock to address the issue.
“We have doubled the intake, the enrolment, 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 cue 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.
On Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), the minister noted that at least 1,400 centres can now have skilled birth attendants.
According to him, 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 added that Federal Government had disbursed the first tranche of N25 billion Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
“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.
Recall that the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa, had in October 2023 said government had put in place strategies to increase admissions into medical and dental institutions.