By Muhammad Amaan with agency report
The Nigeria’s Federal Government said it would increase the number of nurses train in the country to 100,000 annually.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa said the initiative aims to tackle the critical shortage of healthcare workers plaguing the nation’s medical system.
Alausa who announced the plan at the first matriculation ceremony of the National Diploma in Nursing by the College of Nursing Sciences, National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos.
He said the government intends to raise the annual nursing student enrollment from 68,000 to over 100,000 annually.
The minister said, “I am giving you very verifiable data. When we came in as a government, we were enrolling just about 28,000 nursing students across all our nursing training institutions in the country.
“Today, we are enrolling 68,000 nursing students annually in all our nursing training institutions in the country, and before the end of the year; we will be enrolling over 100,000 students.”
According to him, the expansion strategy involves establishing new nursing schools and increasing capacity at existing ones.
Dr Alausa emphasized the government’s commitment to leveraging Nigeria’s large population to produce more healthcare professionals.
He highlighted President Bola Tinubu’s support for the initiative and mentioned similar efforts to expand enrolment in medical schools, pharmacy schools, and other health-related fields.
The minister acknowledged the importance of improving healthcare worker welfare to retain staff and combat the emigration of medical professionals, sometimes referred to as “Japa syndrome.”
He urged patience from health workers while the government implements its plans.
