The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) reports that about 2,000 medical doctors produced each year are unable to get housemanship assignments due to capacity constraints in the centralised system.
Fatimah Kyari, the council’s registrar, said in Abuja on Friday while briefing the Senate Committee on Health during the 2026 budget defence session.
Kyari said Nigerian medical schools produce about 6,000 doctors every year, noting that the centralised housemanship system can only absorb 4,000.
“A total of about 6,000 medical doctors are produced annually from the various medical schools, while the centralised housemanship system in operation has a capacity for 4,000 medical doctors,” she said.
She urged the inclusion of state and privately-owned hospitals in the centralised housemanship system to accommodate all graduates each year.
“As a way of accommodating the 6,000 at once yearly, there is a need to include state and privately-owned hospitals in the centralised housemanship system,” Kyari said.
The registrar stated that expanding the system would assist to reduce brain drain in the health industry.
Kyari also stated that the council did not get any disbursement from the N1.2 billion capital vote appropriated for the fiscal year 2025.
According to her, only N37.5 million was released from the N100 million allocated for overheads in the same period.
She added that N13.859 billion was released from the N16.8 billion earmarked for personnel costs in 2025.
Kyari also said the limited number of doctors in federal government-owned hospitals are overstretched and working beyond reasonable capacity.
She called for increased human and material investment in the health sector to expand medical training facilities and absorb more doctors and allied health professionals.
The registrar, however, noted that the migration trend also reflects the quality and global competitiveness of Nigerian-trained doctors.