Medical lecturers under the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, University College Hospital, Ibadan Chapter, Oyo State, have warned against increasing admission quotas for medical students without corresponding improvements in infrastructure and manpower.
The lecturers said the Federal Government’s decision to increase admission quotas for Colleges of Medicine, including the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, could place additional pressure on existing facilities and personnel if not matched with adequate investment.
The Chairman of MDCAN, UCH Chapter, Dr Oluseyi Akande, raised the concern in Ibadan, the state capital, during the association’s biennial press briefing held as part of its 2026 Annual General Meeting.
Akande said the increase in admission quotas was aimed at addressing the shortage of medical personnel in the country but warned that the policy could undermine the quality of medical training if the necessary infrastructure and manpower were not provided.
He said although the government had intervened directly by providing infrastructure to accommodate the increased admission capacity, the implementation had been slow.
“At the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, these structures are not ready, even though the number of students admitted increased since last year,” he said.
Akande called on the Federal Government to expedite the completion of the infrastructure and strengthen monitoring to ensure that the interventions were delivered on schedule.
He also stressed the need for increased recruitment of medical lecturers and other personnel to cope with the higher number of students.
“Medical consultants serving as lecturers have the dual responsibility of teaching medical students and resident doctors while also providing clinical services at the teaching hospital.”
He said the workload had become heavier due to the migration of health professionals abroad and the poor state of primary and secondary healthcare facilities in many parts of the country.
“Our members are already overworked in the hospital because of Japa syndrome and almost non-existent primary and secondary health care facilities in most states of the Federation,” Akande said.
He urged the government to increase the staff strength of Colleges of Medicine and introduce appropriate incentives and remuneration for medical lecturers who are required to take on additional responsibilities.
“Medicine is an apprenticeship, as we say; training of extra medical students is demanding and should be adequately compensated,” he said.
The MDCAN chairman suggested that the government could adopt the existing earned allowances framework in universities as a starting point for compensating medical lecturers undertaking additional workloads.
The association also called on the Federal Government to urgently strengthen manpower and infrastructure in teaching hospitals across the country to address growing pressure on the nation’s tertiary healthcare system.
Akande also urged the government to constitute boards of management for federal tertiary hospitals, saying their absence in UCH and many other federal tertiary hospitals for more than two years had slowed decision-making and affected the smooth administration of the institutions.
He said the previous boards were dissolved by the Federal Government after the expiration of their tenure, leaving the Chief Medical Directors to oversee the day-to-day administration of the hospitals without the institutional support of their governing boards.
“While the Chief Medical Director, as Chief Executive Officer, oversees day-to-day operations, the hospital’s Board of Management is to equip, maintain, and operate the hospital, as stated in the University Teaching Hospital Act.
“The boards are responsible for providing policy direction and taking critical decisions and approvals required for the effective running of the hospitals.”
He said the absence of the boards meant that some approvals and decisions had to be referred to the coordinating Minister of Health, a situation he said had created delays because of the volume of responsibilities handled by the minister.
“We, therefore, call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to, as a matter of urgency, constitute the Board of Management of the Federal Tertiary Hospitals in Nigeria to ensure their smooth running and timely delivery of their mandates,” he said.
Credit: Punchng
