2,000 doctors miss housemanship yearly over limited slots – MDCN

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has revealed that about 2,000 newly qualified doctors are unable to secure housemanship placements each year due to limited capacity under the country’s Centralised Housemanship System.

The council’s Registrar, Dr Fatimah Kyari, disclosed this on Tuesday while appearing before the Senate Committee on Health during the 2026 budget defence in Abuja.

According to her, Nigerian medical schools produce roughly 6,000 graduates annually, but the existing housemanship structure can only accommodate 4,000, leaving thousands without the mandatory clinical training required for full practice.

“About 6,000 medical doctors are produced annually from various medical schools, while the Centralised Housemanship System has the capacity for only 4,000,” Kyari told lawmakers.

She called for urgent reforms to expand the system by incorporating state-owned and private hospitals to absorb all graduates and eliminate the backlog.

“As a way of accommodating the 6,000 doctors at once every year, there is a need to include state and privately owned hospitals in the Centralised Housemanship System,” she said.

Kyari warned that delays in housemanship placements contribute significantly to brain drain, as frustrated young doctors seek opportunities abroad.

On funding challenges, the registrar said the council received no release from the N1.2 billion capital allocation approved in the 2025 budget.

She added that only N37.5 million was released out of the N100 million earmarked for overhead costs, while N13.859 billion was released from the N16.8 billion allocated for personnel expenses.

Responding, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Banigo Ipalibo (Rivers West), assured the council that the committee would push for improved funding to enable MDCN effectively carry out its responsibilities.