The National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) has called for increased government funding for postgraduate medical examinations and measures to address the continued emigration of doctors seeking better opportunities abroad.
The President of the College, Professor Anthony Ikefuna, made the call on Thursday at the institution’s 44th convocation ceremony in Lagos.
Ikefuna urged the Nigerian government to investigate the factors driving doctors to leave the country, saying the issue appeared to involve both economic and personal considerations.
“If you are selling a product and it is marketed abroad, won’t you be happy? We are proud; what we are saying is that they are not staying. I don’t know what their problems are; both I think it is both economic and personal. We need to explore what the problem is,” Ikefuna said.
The college president said improving doctors’ welfare and providing better housing could help reduce medical professionals’ emigration.
Ikefuna said the departure of doctors had increased the workload of those remaining in the country and could affect mentorship and the efficiency of postgraduate medical training.
He called for workforce strengthening, including a policy of replacing doctors who emigrate, to ease manpower shortages in hospitals and training institutions.
The College president said the newly qualified specialists would add to Nigeria’s pool of medical experts and contribute to strengthening healthcare delivery.
“These new specialists will add more value to the pool of medical specialists in Nigeria,” he said.
Ikefuna appealed for increased government funding for postgraduate medical examinations, saying the rising cost of conducting fellowship examinations had placed significant financial pressure on the College.
He said examination fees were no longer sufficient to cover logistics, examination materials, examiners’ allowances, accommodation, transportation, information technology support and other operational costs.
He appealed to the federal government to intervene, particularly ahead of the implementation of new Duty Tour Allowance rates from Oct. 1, 2026.
The College also called for the establishment of clinical skills and simulation laboratories at its centres in Kano, Enugu and Abuja, saying high-fidelity simulation equipment would improve practical training, clinical decision-making and competency assessment.
Ikefuna said the College was pursuing greater use of digital technology in postgraduate medical education, including competency-based work assessments, electronic portfolios and telemedicine.
He said the proposed digital systems would enable trainers to monitor residents’ progress in real time and provide faster feedback, while reducing some of the limitations associated with manual assessment methods.
‘The College has also received approval to establish a Doctor of Philosophy programme for clinicians after obtaining the nod of the National Universities Commission.
The PhD programme will operate as a pre-fellowship degree alongside the College’s existing Doctor of Medicine programme’, Ikefuna said.
Ikefuna said about 473 doctors had received the MD degree since its introduction in 2020, while more than 55 recipients were expected to receive the degree at this year’s convocation.
He also announced the emergence of the College’s 17th faculty, the Faculty of Radiation and Clinical Oncology, which graduated its foundation fellows at the 2026 convocation.
Ikefuna urged the newly inducted Fellows to uphold integrity, compassion and professionalism while committing themselves to lifelong learning and mentorship.
In a convocation lecture titled “The Intersection of Medicine, Law, Research, and Ethics in Nigeria: Challenges, Opportunities, and Way Forward”, the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Dr John Obafunwa, said physician-scientists remained underrepresented in Nigeria’s medical research system.
Using NIMR as a case study, Obafunwa said 59 of the institute’s 278 staff were research fellows, of whom only seven were medically qualified, and five were Fellows of postgraduate medical colleges.
He called for formal physician-scientist training tracks, protected research time for clinicians, joint appointments between universities and research institutions, and stronger funding for translational research.
Obafunwa also proposed consideration of MBBS-PhD pathways in Nigerian medical schools to encourage the early development of physician-scientists, who could later proceed to specialist residency training.
He said stronger integration of medicine, law, research and ethics was necessary to improve patient care, protect research participants, strengthen professional accountability and maintain public trust.
The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Abisoye Adegoke, commended the College for its contribution to specialist medical training and urged the graduands to use their expertise to improve healthcare delivery.
She said the Federal Government remained committed to efforts aimed at improving the quality, accessibility and resilience of healthcare services in Nigeria.
The convocation brought together College officials, medical educators, researchers, government representatives, Fellows, graduands and their families to mark the completion of postgraduate specialist training.
For his part, the president of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons is Professor Samuel Debrah, said medical education should no longer be viewed as a component of health sector expenditure but as a strategic national development investment.
He urged the graduands to continue striving for excellence while also calling for a sustainable intra-African collaboration in the health sector.
NPMCN Seeks Funding, Retention Reforms At 44th Convocation
