The House of Representatives has urged relevant regulatory agencies and government ministries to expand internship opportunities for graduates of Nursing and Midwifery, Radiography, Pharmacy and other allied medical disciplines, warning that persistent shortages in placement slots are undermining professional training and worsening brain drain in Nigeria’s health sector.
The call followed the adoption of a motion on notice moved on Tuesday during plenary by an Imo lawmaker, Mr Harrison Nwadike.
Under the enabling laws of their respective regulatory councils, graduates of Nursing and Midwifery, Medical Laboratory Science, Pharmacy, Optometry, Physiology, Radiography and other allied medical disciplines are required to complete a compulsory one year supervised internship in accredited health institutions before they can be licensed to practise. Unlike medical doctors, whose internship placements are centrally coordinated by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, graduates of most allied health professions are often left to secure placements on their own.
This decentralised process has, over the years, created significant bottlenecks in the system. With limited internship slots in public health institutions and intense competition from thousands of graduates produced annually by universities and colleges of health sciences, many qualified candidates are unable to secure placements months or even years after graduation. The situation has also been worsened by chronic underfunding of public hospitals, inadequate staffing levels, and the concentration of accredited internship centres in a few major urban locations across the country.
Moving the motion, Nwadike said the House was aware that thousands of graduates from allied medical disciplines apply personally for internship placements every year, but only a small fraction are eventually absorbed.
“Annually, thousands of Nursing and Midwifery, Medical Laboratory Science, Pharmacy, Optometry, Physiology, Radiography, and other allied medical discipline graduates apply for internship placements personally in various health institutions, but only few are absorbed due to the limited slots, leaving over 10 to 15,000 graduates stranded without placement,” he said.
He warned that the scarcity of internship opportunities exposes young graduates to serious risks and various forms of exploitation.
“The House is concerned that the limited availability of internship opportunities can lead to financial, emotional, and even sexual exploitation of graduates seeking placements, compromising ethics and professionalism in a sector which deals with human life.
“We are also concerned that most unlicensed graduates are exposed to social vices, such as internet fraud, violent crimes, and prostitution, contributing to losses in public health and societal well being,” Nwadike added.
According to him, the problem is particularly severe in federal and tertiary health institutions, which often lack the funding and institutional capacity to absorb the growing number of graduates requiring internship placements each year. He cited a recent example from a federal government owned health institution located in the Federal Capital Territory.
“A Federal Government health institution domiciled in the Federal Capital Territory recently conducted examinations for over 640 eligible nursing interns with only 35 available placement slots, leaving over 600 graduates without internship opportunities,” he said.
Nwadike further lamented that graduates who are unable to secure internship placements are effectively locked out of the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme, as professional licensure is a prerequisite for mobilisation in most of the affected disciplines. He noted that this situation delays career progression and limits employment prospects for young health professionals.
He warned that the challenge could have long term consequences for the country’s health workforce and service delivery.
“These structural deficiencies may compel Nigerian graduates to seek training, research and development opportunities abroad, thereby deepening the national brain drain malaise and undermining the country’s investment in human capital development,” he said.
The motion received overwhelming support when it was put to a voice vote by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the plenary session.
Following the adoption of the motion, the House urged all relevant regulatory bodies, including the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, to take responsibility for posting prospective interns to accredited health institutions nationwide.
The lawmakers also directed the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to increase the internship budgetary subhead for health institutions “to accommodate the number of graduates annually and collaborate with the regulatory councils, to develop a national internship matching portal to automate and harmonise graduate placements, ensure transparency, prevent exploitation, and eliminate delays.”
In addition, the House called on the Ministry of Budget and Planning to expand budgetary allocations to tertiary health institutions nationwide “to enable them to increase funding for these internship programmes to accommodate all graduates eligible for internship annually.”
The Committees on Health Institutions, Health Services and Legislative Compliance were mandated to ensure compliance with the resolutions and report back to the House within four weeks for further legislative action.
