2,000 doctors face housemanship placement challenge
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) said about 2,000 medical doctors produced annually in the country are unable to secure housemanship placements due to limited capacity. The Registrar of the council, Fatimah Kyari, disclosed this yesterday while appearing before the Senate Committee on Health during the 2026 budget defence in Abuja. Kyari explained […]
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) said about 2,000 medical doctors produced annually in the country are unable to secure housemanship placements due to limited capacity.
The Registrar of the council, Fatimah Kyari, disclosed this yesterday while appearing before the Senate Committee on Health during the 2026 budget defence in Abuja.
Kyari explained that although about 6,000 doctors graduate yearly, the existing centralised housemanship placement system can only accommodate 4,000, leaving the remaining 2,000 without placements.
She called for the inclusion of state and private hospitals in the centralised system to absorb all graduates, noting that the move would also help curb the growing brain drain in the health sector.
Kyari further lamented funding challenges, revealing that none of the N1.2 billion capital allocation to MDCN in the 2025 fiscal year was released.
She added that only N37.5 million was released from the N100 million appropriated for overheads, while N13.859 billion was released out of the N16.8 billion budgeted for personnel costs.
Responding, Chairman of the committee, Senator Ipalibo Banigo (PDP, Rivers West), assured the council of the committee’s commitment to ensuring adequate funding.