Kano needs 4,000 more healthcare professionals to bridge gap

From Desmond MGboh, Kano

Director General, Kano State Primary Health Care Management Board, Salisu Ahmad Ibrahim, has said that the state is grappling with a shortage of about 4,000 professional health workers.

He stated this at the convocation ceremony of the Sardauna College of Health Sciences and Technology, Kano, linking the gap in the sector to pressures exerted on the system by the fast growing population of the state.

Ibrahim estimated that Kano State recorded between 600,000 and 700,000 births in 2026 alone, worrying that this figure would further stretch the available healthcare facilities in the state.

According to him, hospitals and primary healthcare centres were currently struggling with inadequate manpower, while insisting that the need to bridge the gap in skilled health personnel in the state has never been this compelling.

He urged universities and training institutions to place greater emphasis on practical and community-based health care training to ensure that graduates were well prepared for effective service delivery.

He also revealed that there are plans to absorb the newly trained health workers from the institution and deploy them to underserved areas, such as Doguwa, Rogo and Sumaila Local Government Areas.

Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, said the high proportion of female graduates from the College would help address cultural concerns in the region, where many families are still uncomfortable with their wives, daughters and mothers being attended to by male medical personnel.

He regretted that the north has remained far behind in the number of available female health practitioners, stressing the need for sustained investment in girl child education in the health sector.

Dalhatu also expressed concern over the broader education crisis in the North, where he estimated that about 15 million children were currently out of school.

He cautioned that failure to urgently deal with the situation could lead to a large-scale crisis in the region.