By Aishat M. Abisola
In 2025, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare launched the National Health Fellows Programme, aiming to strengthen primary healthcare delivery and expand Nigeria’s health work-force capacity, following numerous reports of inadequate personnel at medical facilities.
Rightly, the main purpose was to address the gaps in community level healthcare through the recruitment, training, and deployment of young professionals to serve in all of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.
The first cohort for the National Health Fellows Programme, admitted in January 2025, has since been deployed nationwide with the aim of supporting community health interventions, surveillance activities, and primary healthcare strengthening at the grassroots.
According to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, the success that was achieved from the first cohort signaled the potential of Nigerian youths in making meaningful contributions to national development when given the opportunity.
As the final interview process for the second cohort is underway, Prof. Pate should also consider engaging the potential recruits in the investigation and restructuring process of public and private health sector infrastructure in order to make progress in the prevention or reduction of medical negligence in the healthcare system.
These days, there are no shortage of neglect stories caused by the current state of Nigeria’s healthcare system. Every so often, doctors and their organizations strike due to constant underfunding, mismanagement, and government neglect of the health sector.
These factors have led to the deaths of many patients who could have been saved. However, the continuously worsening healthcare crisis, caused by the mass departure of medical professionals seeking better opportunities abroad, has left Nigeria’s citizens at the mercy of a broken system. Those doctors who decide to stay are stretched thin, increasing the risk of mistakes, not necessarily due to incompetence, but fatigue.
Just recently, Aishatu Umar, a mother of five, passed away at the Abubakar Imam Urology Centre in Kano State as a result of medical negligence during a surgical procedure to remove a pair of scissors that were left in her body after a previous surgery at the same facility. A relative of the deceased reported that she had experienced months of severe abdominal pains fol-lowing a surgery in September 2025.
He stated that although, she had repeatedly returned to the hospital to complain of worsening pain, she was only provided with pain-relief medication and a mention of further investigation.
Across Nigeria, many citizens have told their stories of medical negligence which has contributed to the continuous rise in concerns about patient safety, professional standards, and the lack of accountability within the healthcare system as many patients who have been involved in major accidents are required to pay before receiving treatment.
The quality of care in many public hospitals is also impeded by weak regulatory oversight, inadequate funding, outdated facilities, and a lack of qualified medical personnel. Although private hospitals have a wider range of service provided, the cost that many Nigerians have to pay makes a cruel choice between treatment and daily survival. This is not to say they are exempt from reports of medical negligence as the case of China Chimamanda Adiche serves as a recent example.
To paint a more relatable picture of why these negligence continues to thrive, Nigeria has approximately one doctor for every 5,000 people, which is below the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended ratio of one doctor per 600 patients.
Also, an estimated 200,000 preventable child deaths occur annually as a result of understaffed and unevenly distributed pediatric services with similar challenges being faced by hospitals infrastructure with an estimated 0.8 to 0.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people which is below the global average of 2.3 beds per 1,000.
Furthermore, the incessant doctors’ strike in Nigeria remains a major concern, as many pa-tients are left neglected in dire situations without proper treatment or care. It’s understandable that doctors demand better remuneration and opportunities, but their duty to attend to patients should remain sacrosanct.
Unfortunately, the doctors’ strike, regardless of its motivations, contravenes the National Health Act. Although this law was enacted to safeguard patients’ rights, many Nigerians remain unaware of its provisions. The Act guarantees access to emergency healthcare and basic medical services, regardless of income, status, or location. However, its enforcement is lacking, and hospitals frequently violate it with impunity.
The law aims to prevent hospitals from refusing treatment due to upfront payment demands. Specifically, Sections 20, 27, and 29 of the National Health Act prohibit healthcare providers from denying emergency treatment, ensure patients’ access to their health records, and pro-tect the confidentiality of these records, respectively. Violations can result in fines or impris-onment, with penalties ranging from N100,000 to N250,000 and up to two years’ imprison-ment.
But beyond lamentation and finger pointing, an opportunity is before us. The National Health Fellows Programme can be utilised to address these issues from the grassroots, ensuring both doctors and patients pay a role in mitigating negligence in the country’s health sector.
The health minister could consider adding educational campaigns to the primary responsibilities of these Fellows when deployed. Routine grassroots campaigns about healthcare rights in Nige-ria would empower patients and keep health workers on their toes, ensuring they act professionally and with care.
Stronger laws are necessary in the standardization of quality care in the health sector leading to patient safety and improved moral behaviour hence, the programme can serve as oppor-tunity to engage young minds in policy revision for better outcomes.
Improving the access of private healthcare for more Nigerians, especially in rural areas, by ex-panding the reach of health insurance coverage can encourage financial inclusion in the healthcare system. This will help decongest public health facilities and reduce negligence that can result from attending too much patients.
Capacity building can assist in improving service delivery and attract interested youths and qualified individuals. This is especially true for healthcare professionals working in the public sector. Therefore, products of this fellowship programme should not be abandoned.
Last Line
To put it simply, although the National Health Fellows Programme has experienced success in its first cohort, the current state of Nigeria’s health sector might eventually lead to a stagnation in progress.
The excessive rate of medical negligence in Nigeria’s health sector has preserved for decades and hasn’t changed at all, leading to a continuous rise in deaths. However, if the steps outlined are considered, the programme will make significant progress in reducing the current prob-lems faced by Nigeria’s health sector, including negligence.
