Elections are supposed to be the time when innovative ideas are everywhere. Given Nigeria’s terrible doctor to population ratio, our health policy has to AI and telemedicine based

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Are Nigeria’s political parties aware of the fact that the World Health Organisation recommends a minimum doctor to patient ratio of 1:1,000 Countries like Austria, Germany, and Norway often report more than 4 or 5 doctors per 1,000 people, while the UK has 2.8 to 3.2 doctors per 1,000 and the US 2.6 to 3.2 doctors per 1,000 patients

[2] In Nigeria, we have a staggering doctor to patient ratio of 1:10,000, with this figure doubling to about 1:20,000 in states like Zamfara, Jigawa, Yobe, Kebbi, etc

[3] We have a population of about 220m and only between 30,000 and 40,000 doctors to care for them. Basically, Nigeria needs like 200,000 more doctors tomorrow to meet the basic WHO recommended standard of healthcare

[4] We all know this is not going to happen, so we have to be innovative in our thinking. If you ask me, if we have 40,000 doctors in Nigeria and a further 40,000 from abroad who we use on daily basis via telemedicine, we are halfway there

[5] China have actually taken this development further by establishing AI health kiosks in remote areas. Patients enter their details, the kiosk assesses it and makes a diagnosis. This is then forwarded to a doctor who reviews it and authorises a prescription or surgery as the need may be. Nigeria needs to introduce this as from 2027

[6] With the 2027 elections now looming, we need to get all our political parties to adopt a radical health policy as we simply do not have enough a grip on the situation at the moment. Without good health, you cannot get your nation working, so this is not something to be taken lightly

[7] Given that Nigeria is not going to have enough doctors soon, our health policy has to be centred around three cardinal programmes. AI, telemedicine and prevention

[8] On top of this, each of Nigeria's 774 local governments must have at least two general hospitals. That should be the very basic minimum primary healthcare Nigeria offers her citizens

[9] Preventative measures should then include ensuring everyone over the age of 50 has access to zero interest bicycle loans, getting governments must subside gym membership for everyone over 35 and providing tax rebates to workplaces that offer gym membership to their staff

[10] I believe secondary healthcare should be handled by the six geo-political zones, with 12 specialist hospitals established, with two in each geo-political zone. These shall include - Dermatology, optometrics, renal failure, cardialogy, neurology, ear/throat/nose, cancer, Hiv/Aids, orthopedia, rheumatics, tropical diseases and sickle cell anaemia

ayoakinfe@gmail.com

www.ayoakinfe.com