By Isaac Mission
Enugu State is set to significantly expand its medical workforce, with more than 900 doctors expected to graduate from medical schools in the state each year following recent increases in admission quotas.
The State Commissioner for Health, George Ugwu, disclosed this while commenting on the latest approvals granted by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to medical training institutions across the state.
The affected institutions are the College of Medicine of Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), University of Nigeria’s College of Medicine, the State University of Medical and Applied Sciences, and Godfrey Okoye University.
Ugwu said the development was in line with Governor Peter Mbah’s administration’s efforts to address the shortage of doctors and other healthcare professionals through both increased training capacity and fresh recruitment.
According to him, the government recognises that infrastructure and modern medical equipment alone cannot guarantee quality healthcare without adequately trained personnel to operate them.
He explained that the state’s workforce strategy therefore combines the expansion of medical education with the recruitment and training of healthcare workers already serving across its facilities.
Under the new approvals, ESUT’s College of Medicine will admit up to 350 medical students annually, which Ugwu described as the highest quota approved for a Nigerian medical school at the time.
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, also received an increase in its medical admission quota from 180 to 400 students per year.
Similarly, the State University of Medical and Applied Sciences secured full accreditation and had its quota raised from 50 to 100, while Godfrey Okoye University’s approved quota increased from 50 to 75 students.
Ugwu noted that although UNN is federally owned and Godfrey Okoye University is privately operated, the Enugu State Government supported their accreditation and capacity-building initiatives.
He said such investments were necessary because graduates produced by the institutions would ultimately strengthen the pool of healthcare professionals available to serve communities within the state and across Nigeria.
The commissioner said the expansion would provide a long-term solution to the shortage of medical personnel, while measures were already being implemented to meet immediate healthcare needs.
He disclosed that the state had approved the recruitment of more than 2,000 health workers for its primary healthcare system, with deployment to facilities already underway.
He added that healthcare personnel had also undergone training in areas including safe childbirth, neonatal resuscitation and family planning.
Ugwu maintained that Enugu’s approach to healthcare workforce development must extend beyond government-owned institutions, stressing that every credible medical training institution operating within the state has a role to play in producing competent professionals.
