The federal government has announced that it has recruited 2,497 doctors, midwives, nurses, and Community Health Extension Workers in the last six months. Nigeria’s government said the recruitment is to address the shortage of healthcare workers in the country.
Muhammadu Pate, the coordinating minister of health and Social Welfare, made this known during a press briefing organised by the Ministry of Information and National Orientation Wednesday on Abuja.
The minister acknowledged that Nigeria is facing a shortage of medical personnel due to the exodus of healthcare workers.
Pate said the government has raised the admission quota of schools training doctors, nurses and midwives to increase the number of healthcare workers in the country.
Speaking extensively on issues bordering the health sector, Pate said the government is working to improve access to basic healthcare, especially among the vulnerable population. He said the government is working to revitalize up to 17,000 primary healthcare centres by 2027.
He also mentioned that the government will be releasing N50 billion as the first tranche of the Basic Healthcare Fund. This, according to him is a significant increase from N25 billion allocated in 2022.
Speaking further, Pate disclosed that 750,000 more Nigerians have been enrolled in health insurance since the beginning of the President Bola Tinubu administration,
“We remain committed to providing access to quality health for all Nigerians through the Vulnerable Group Fund and the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF)”, he said.
