MDCAN warns economic hardship threatens healthcare, citizens’ wellbeing
The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has raised alarm that Nigeria’s deepening economic crisis is crippling healthcare delivery and worsening the wellbeing of citizens.
Speaking at the association’s 14th Biennial Delegates’ Meeting and Scientific Conference in Enugu on Thursday, MDCAN National President, Prof. Muhammed A. Mohammed, said poor remuneration, infrastructural decay, and insecurity were driving an exodus of doctors from the country. He stressed that the national minimum wage was no longer sustainable for health workers.
“Remuneration, which is key, must be increased not just for consultants or doctors, but for all healthcare workers. Nigerian doctors deserve a living wage, not just a minimum wage,” Mohammed said, urging government to treat improved welfare as a patriotic investment.
The conference, themed “Otanisi Psychosis: The Mental Health Implications of the Dwindling Socio-Economic Fortunes of Nigerians”, provided a platform for members to review medical practice, training, and research, while recommending solutions to national health challenges.
Representing the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Medical and Allied Health Sciences, Enugu State, announced that government is doubling quotas in medical schools to address manpower shortages. “The policy now is to equip medical schools with stronger capacity so they can train more students without compromising quality,” he stated.
In his remarks, Chief Medical Director of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Prof. Obinna Onodugo, called for unity among MDCAN members to improve healthcare delivery. Similarly, H.R.M. Igwe Sir F.O. Nwatu, Grand Patron of the Enugu Council of Traditional Rulers, commended the association for its free medical outreach in his community and praised Governor Peter Mbah’s maternal health policies.
MDCAN Vice President I and Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, Prof. Appolos Chidi Ndukuba, compared today’s economic hardship to the austerity period of the 1980s.
