Sierra Leone’s Minister of Health on Monday warned that the
shortage of medical doctors had reached a critical proportion and therefore
required attention. Dr Abu Bakarr Fofanah said one way of addressing this
shortage is with the introduction of an in-country postgraduate training
facility.
“Sierra Leone, with an estimated population of about seven
million, we require a minimum of 1, 400 medical doctors. And currently with
less than 350 Sierra Leonean doctors registered with the Medical and Dental
Council of Sierra Leone, you will all agree with me that the shortage of
doctors at all levels … has reached critical proportions,” Dr Fofanah said. He
was addressing members of the West African College of Physicians Sierra Leone
chapter.
The college is one of the few institutions that provide
postgraduate medical training for Sierra Leoneans but they have to travel to
Nigeria.
The ministry of health has relied on sending graduate medical
doctors overseas for postgraduate training. This, say officials, has not only
proven costly but also deprived the country the much needed services of the
trainee doctors when they study abroad. Many of them also fail to return at the
conclusion of their training.
“So an in-country
post graduate medical training facility will greatly reduce brain drain, enable
us train our doctors at a cheaper cost and rapid improvement of services,” said
Dr Fofanah.
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