Enugu State is set to produce more than 900 medical doctors annually in the near future following the increase in admission quotas granted to medical schools across the state by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN.
The Enugu State Commissioner for Health, George Ugwu, disclosed this while speaking on the recent increase in admission quotas for the Colleges of Medicine in the state.
The affected institutions are the College of Medicine, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT; College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN; College of Medicine, State University of Medical and Applied Sciences, SUMAS; and the College of Medicine, Godfrey Okoye University.
Ugwu said the development was part of Governor Peter Mbah’s efforts to expand the state’s medical workforce and increase the number of doctors and other health professionals available to provide healthcare services.
According to him, the state government recognises that healthcare infrastructure, buildings and medical equipment cannot deliver quality services without competent personnel to operate them.
He said the government was therefore combining the recruitment of health workers with deliberate efforts to expand the capacity of medical and health training institutions across the state.
The commissioner said health-workforce planning must go beyond the ownership of institutions, stressing that Enugu State stands to benefit whenever credible training institutions within its borders develop the capacity to produce competent medical professionals.
Ugwu disclosed that the MDCN approved an annual admission quota of 350 students for the College of Medicine, Enugu State University of Science and Technology.
He described the approval as a major development, noting that it was the highest quota granted to a Nigerian medical school at the time.
He added that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, also received an increase in its medical admission quota from 180 to 400 students annually.
The State University of Medical and Applied Sciences, according to the commissioner, received full accreditation and an increase in its medical quota from 50 to 100 students.
Similarly, Godfrey Okoye University’s approved medical admission quota was increased from 50 to 75 students.
With the combined approved quotas of the four institutions, the state is expected to have the capacity to train more than 900 medical students annually, significantly expanding the pipeline of doctors who could eventually join the healthcare workforce.
Ugwu said that although the University of Nigeria is a federal institution and Godfrey Okoye University is privately owned, the Enugu State Government supported their accreditation and capacity-expansion efforts.
He explained that the state’s support was based on the understanding that graduates from the institutions would contribute to the healthcare workforce serving both Enugu State and Nigeria.
The commissioner said the increased admission quotas would help address the shortage of medical personnel in the state and strengthen the health system in the long term.
For immediate manpower needs, Ugwu disclosed that the state government had approved the recruitment of more than 2,000 health workers for the primary healthcare system, with deployment already ongoing across various facilities.
He added that health workers had also undergone training in essential areas including safe delivery, neonatal resuscitation and family planning, among other critical healthcare services.
The commissioner said the combination of increased medical training capacity, recruitment and continuous professional development was aimed at building a stronger and more sustainable healthcare workforce for Enugu State.
