Over 2,000 medical graduates stranded yearly with no housemanship slots — NARD

By Precious Mark

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has revealed that approximately 2,000 medical graduates are left stranded each year without housemanship placements needed to complete their professional registration.

Citing data from the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) on Tuesday, the doctors’ body highlighted that qualified graduates are increasingly unable to secure mandatory housemanship positions required for full registration because accredited hospitals lack sufficient training capacity.

“To become fully registered as a doctor, you need to complete housemanship. However, there are not enough placements for all the graduates,” NARD stated.

The association stressed that the crisis extends far beyond simple administrative waiting periods, highlighting deeper structural challenges such as insufficient accredited training slots, inadequate supervision, limited funding, and a growing influx of medical graduates into an unexpanded health system.

“Doctors who cannot secure housemanship positions miss out on the supervised clinical training they need to advance their careers,” NARD stated, adding that prolonged waiting periods cause financial strain, lead to a erosion of clinical skills, and heighten frustration among young medical professionals.

Addressing the country’s ongoing health sector brain drain, the association noted that Nigeria already suffers from a critical shortage of healthcare personnel and widespread exodus of medical talent, warning that barring qualified graduates from entering the workforce further worsens the policy failure.

NARD concluded that simply increasing medical school intake will not solve the manpower deficit, urging government authorities and health administrators to urgently boost the nation’s capacity to train, absorb, and retain new doctors.