The report of the Nigerian Medical Association that the doctor-patient ratio in Nigeria is getting worse, with a physician attending to more than 5,000 patients is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Guardian reports that the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has said the doctor-patient ratio in the country is getting worse, with a physician attending to more than 5,000 patients.
The association, in a communiqué, issued and jointly signed by the President and Secretary-General, Drs. Uche R. Ojinmah and Jide Onyekwelu, yesterday, at the end of its 2022 National Executive Council (NEC) in Gombe, said: “NEC observed that one of the most serious obstacles to the development of effective health services in Nigeria is inadequate supply of skilled human resource.
“This has led to serious manpower crises in most health facilities in the country with the health workers already being overstretched, leading to serious distortion in the already poor doctor-patient ratio of 1:5,000 in Nigeria as against the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation of 1:600.”
The body said the shortage of doctors is currently driving the epidemic of physician burnout in the country, even as it decried pervasive negative effect of the burnout on all aspects of medical care, including lower patient satisfaction and care quality, suicide and higher medical error rates.
The theme of the conference was “Healthcare Delivery in the Face of Insecurity.” The sub-themes were “Health Manpower Planning: The Challenges of Physician Burnout and Brain Drain in Nigeria” and “Re-emerging Health Issues: Monkey Pox Disease and Marburg Virus Disease.”
The doctors also noted that health threats are increasing in every part of Nigeria, citing parlous infrastructure, insufficient and obsolete equipment, human resource shortage, poor remuneration of health workers, medical brain drain, inadequate funding, abuse of referral system, inter-professional rivalry and insecurity as major obstacles to effective healthcare delivery in the country.
They equally observed that the worsening insecurity in the land had led to the inability of both patients and health workers to access health facilities in some parts of the country.
The newspaper says that from 2017 till the end of last year, Nigeria’s banking sector received a total of $15.83 billion in foreign capital, a telling reflection of the sector’s attraction to the international market.
The figure represents 23 per cent of the total capital importation into the country in the five-year period. The analysis is, however, based on sectoral disintegration, implying that the amount cuts across both portfolio and direct investments.
From data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the country pooled $69.39 billion in both foreign portfolio and foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the period.
Besides shares, banking was the most favoured sector by foreign investors, having secured almost one-fourth of the country’s foreign capital inflow.
Foreign portfolio investment (FPI) is often considered as hot or fair-weathered money. Hence, it is considered a sustainable source of funding growth. Both FPI and FDI, however, are critical injections in determining the health of a country’s balance of payment position.
Within the five year period leading to December 2021, about $26.21 billion came into the country via shares category. In 2017 and 2018, the sector’s share of the total capital importation averaged 61.5 per cent.
The overwhelming weighted average decelerated to 22 per cent in 2019 and further down to 19 per cent in 2019. Last year, it was 16 per cent. Since 2020, more foreign investment flows into banking than shares or any other sector.
It was 32 to 22 per cent in favour of banks in 2019 and 39 to 19 in that order in 2020. Last year, the banking sector maintained dominance at 22 per cent as against equities 16 per cent.
From an estimated $3.11 billion in foreign capital inflows recorded in the first two quarters of the year (H1), banking accounted for N1.47 billion or 47 per cent, while only N301 million, amounting to 10 per cent went to equities.
The Punch reports that President Muhammadu Buhari says that Nigeria is keen to see increased trade with the Republic of Poland as current levels remain low despite six decades of bilateral relations.
“We would like to see an increase in the level of trade, as it remains relatively low in spite of the long period of relations between our two countries,’’ Buhari said after a closed-door meeting with his Polish Counterpart, Andrzej Duda, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday
At the meeting, both leaders signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Agriculture.
Duda was at the Villa as part of his two-day state visit to Nigeria.
He is also billed for an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation later on Tuesday.
Addressing a joint press conference with the visiting Head of State, Buhari said Nigeria was gratified by the existing fruitful cooperation with Poland in the fields of maritime, education and defence.
On agriculture, which is one of the priority areas of the Nigerian government, the President described cooperation in this area as a win-win for the two countries, especially in the context of global food insecurity occasioned by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
With the numerous global challenges in mind, Buhari said Nigeria would like to develop new mechanisms for cooperation including regular strategic dialogues and political consultations to cover not only bilateral relations but also to address regional and international issues.
“‘Our cooperation in education has a long history and we wish to encourage the extension of that cooperation to the sharing of knowledge and experience between our educational institutions in areas such as science and technology as well as Information and Communication Technology, in order to help drive innovation in our countries in this competitive global knowledge economy,’’ the President said.
He commended the efforts of the Government of Poland in providing assistance to the large number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, including a significant number of Nigerians.
The newspaper says that Google says 60 African startups have been selected for the second cohort of the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund for Africa.
The global firm said this on Tuesday during the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund 2022 winner announcement in Abuja. It said the winners would be supported with $4m funding.
According to Google, Nigeria dominates the selection list, which features 23 Nigerian startups. Other countries benefitting from this funding programme include Kenya with 12 grantees, Rwanda with six grantees, South Africa with five grantees, Uganda with four grantees, among others.
It was disclosed that each of the selected startups would get support in the form of a six-month training programme that includes access to a network of mentors to assist in tackling unique challenges.
It was disclosed that fund would be distributed through Google’s implementation partner, CcHUB.
Speaking at the event, the Head of Startup Ecosystem, Sub-Saharan Africa, Folarin Aiyegbusi, said “Africa is a diverse continent with massive opportunity but the continent is faced with the challenge of limited diversity in venture capital funding flow. We hope that the Black Founders Fund program will be able to bridge the gap of disproportionate funding between expat startups over local and black-led companies.”
Also speaking at the event was the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Inuwa, who said that the recently passed Nigeria Startup Bill by the National Assembly will help to institutionalise legal frameworks that would enhance startup growth in Nigeria.
GIK/APA