Prof. Ofem Enang has called for sweeping reforms in Nigeria’s healthcare system to tackle the rising burden of chronic diseases, inadequate specialist training, brain drain, and infrastructural deficits.
Enang, a Professor of Medicine at the University of Calabar, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Sunday.
Enang, also a Consultant Endocrinologist at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), said the country must move from a healthcare model largely focused on treating advanced illnesses to one that prioritised prevention, early diagnosis and continuous disease management.
He identified diabetes and other endocrine disorders as major public health challenges requiring greater attention, noting that many Nigerians were living with diabetes without knowing their status.
According to him, delayed diagnosis often results in patients presenting at hospitals only after developing serious complications such as kidney failure, stroke, heart disease, blindness and diabetic foot disease, which could lead to amputation.
“Diabetes is largely a silent disease until its complications become very loud. Our public health response must begin before that stage,” Enang said.
He urged governments to strengthen primary healthcare centres to provide routine screening for blood glucose, blood pressure, obesity and other metabolic risk factors.
Enang, who is seeking appointment as the next Chief Medical Director (CMD) of UCTH, said chronic diseases should not be detected only when patients reached tertiary healthcare facilities, stressing the need for stronger preventive healthcare and disease surveillance systems.
He also advocated improved access to affordable medicines, insulin, diagnostic services, and glucose-monitoring devices, as well as stronger health insurance coverage for patients with chronic conditions.
On specialist manpower, the endocrinologist said Nigeria’s inability to produce and retain sufficient specialists was contributing to the country’s dependence on foreign medical treatment.
He called for increased residency and fellowship positions, improved accreditation of teaching hospitals for postgraduate training, investment in centres of excellence and competitive remuneration for medical specialists.
“Nigeria must stop treating specialist manpower development as an incidental outcome of the health system and begin treating it as a deliberate national investment,” he said.
On his aspiration to lead UCTH, Enang said his experience in clinical medicine, research, postgraduate training and professional leadership had prepared him for the responsibility.
He said his vision was to build a “patient-centred, academically excellent, technologically enabled and financially sustainable teaching hospital” capable of serving as a reference point for quality healthcare in the South-South and beyond.
Enang said his immediate priorities, if appointed, would include stabilising the institution, strengthening industrial harmony, improving staff welfare, and addressing critical infrastructure gaps.
He listed emergency and critical care, access to essential medicines, diagnostic services, patient safety, and reduction in waiting times among areas requiring urgent attention.
The professor also pledged to tackle factors contributing to the migration of healthcare workers, including poor working conditions, inadequate equipment, excessive workload and limited career development opportunities.
He said resident doctors and other trainees would receive particular attention, warning that a teaching hospital that continually exhausted its trainees risked undermining the development of its future workforce.
“A teaching hospital that continually exhausts its trainees risks undermining its future workforce,” he said.
Enang further promised transparent financial management, completion of critical ongoing projects and improved engagement with labour unions to prevent avoidable industrial disputes.
“I want UCTH to become an institution where patients want to come, professionals want to work, trainees want to learn, researchers want to collaborate, and the community can trust,” he said.
He said his leadership philosophy would be anchored on protecting patients, respecting professionals, developing trainees, ensuring accountability to government, and building an institution capable of sustaining progress beyond the tenure of any individual CMD.(NAN)
