2,000 Medical Doctors Face Annual Housemanship Placement Crisis — MDCN

By Iyojo Ameh

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has disclosed that about 2,000 medical doctors produced annually in the country are unable to secure housemanship placements due to capacity limitations within the existing centralized system.

The Registrar of the Council, Dr.

According to Kyari, Nigeria’s medical schools graduate roughly 6,000 doctors every year, but the Centralized Housemanship System currently has capacity for only 4,000 doctors, leaving a shortfall of about 2,000 graduates annually.

She therefore urged the Federal Government to expand the system by incorporating state-owned and private hospitals into the Centralized Housemanship Scheme to ensure full absorption of all medical graduates.

“A total of about 6,000 medical doctors are produced annually from the various medical schools, while the Centralized Housemanship System in operation can only accommodate 4,000,” she said.

“To ensure that all 6,000 medical doctors are placed at once every year, there is a need to include state and privately owned hospitals in the Centralized Housemanship System.”

Kyari noted that addressing the housemanship placement gap is critical to curbing the rising brain drain in the health sector, stressing that delays in placement often push young doctors to seek opportunities abroad.

She also raised concerns over poor funding of the Council, revealing that no funds were released from the N1.2 billion capital allocation approved for MDCN in the 2025 fiscal year.

“Out of the N100 million appropriated for overhead costs, only N37.5 million was released,” she added, noting however that N13.859 billion was released from the N16.8 billion earmarked for personnel costs during the same period.

In his response, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Banigo Ipalibo (PDP, Rivers West), assured the Council of the committee’s commitment to ensuring improved funding for MDCN in the 2026 budget.