The Federal government has put plans in place to increase admittance to medical and dental schools, boosting the population of medical and dental professionals from 5,000 to 10,000 by the next academic year.
This was revealed by Dr Tunji Alausa, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, on Wednesday during the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria's induction ceremony for foreign-trained medical and dental graduates in Abuja.
Alausa believes that making the health-care environment more appealing will discourage the exodus of licensed doctors and other health professionals to more developed countries.
According to him, Nigeria's yearly production of just over 3,000 doctors remains woefully inadequate, necessitating a tripling of the rate of health worker creation.
"We will also expand these opportunities to include pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists, community health extension workers, radiographers, and others." However, this will be done in stages. "We will make room for more and excess production because there is a global shortage of health manpower, estimated at 18 million people," he said.
Alausa stated that his ministry would continue to lobby for additional support for the health industry and expand the value chain in order to attract more international grants and money.