By Adedapo Adesanya
The Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN) has said that the nation is losing its medical personnel to better-organised global settings, leaving the remaining healthcare workers in government-owned hospitals to be overstretched.
The National President of PAN, Dr Olufemi Ogunrinde, said at the opening ceremony of the association’s four-day annual general meeting and scientific conference in Akure themed Optimising Child Healthcare In Nigeria Despite Current Socio-Economic Challenges, noting that “available data shows that the country has less than one doctor to 3,000 patients, while there are 1.5 nurses to 1,000 patients.”
Dr Ogunrinde said Nigeria’s maternal mortality ratio is now 814 per 100,000 “and is closely linked to adverse neonatal outcomes with pervasive poverty and the stranglehold of communicable diseases.
“We are almost at the halfway point, at least in terms of time, to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“Despite our abundant quality human and natural resources, we have, as a nation, continued to make slow progress in actualising the Sustainable Development Goals, especially as pertain to our children and the youths.
“This has affected us so much that our country has continued to fare poorly in virtually all indices of health.
“Yes, we have made some gains in the health sector over the past few years, but we have had the unfortunate title of “the poverty capital of the world” bestowed on us.
“Our under-five mortality rate continues to be in the three-digit range at 104 per 1,000 live births, and infant mortality fares better at 70 per 1,000 live births.
“Our neonatal mortality and maternal mortality rates have refused to decline significantly over the last decade, with neonatal mortality stagnating at around 35 deaths per 1,000 live births. In 2009, it was 38,” he said.
