The Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association has urged Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to immediately approve the extension of the retirement age for health workers from 60 to 65 years.
It warned that the ongoing mass exodus of medical professionals has created a healthcare emergency.
In a letter dated 5 June 2025, by NMA Lagos Chairman, Dr Saheed Kehinde, and Deputy Secretary, Dr Olusola Soyinka, the association stressed that increasing the retirement age was critical to retaining experienced doctors and narrowing the widening personnel gap caused by migration abroad.
The doctors’ appeal followed President Bola Tinubu’s approval of a similar increment for federal health workers, a policy the NMA said must be domesticated and implemented at the state level, especially in Lagos.
According to the NMA, Lagos State currently has about 7,000 doctors catering to an estimated 30 million residents, an alarmingly low doctor-to-patient ratio.
Speaking in an interview, Dr Kehinde said, ‘The healthcare system is facing an emergency. With population numbers rising, infrastructure can be built, but who will manage it?
‘The professionals are leaving. If the government does not retain those who are still here, the system will collapse’.
He lamented that many senior doctors were forced to retire when they were most needed or re-engaged under short-term contract conditions that erode their dignity and limit their effectiveness.
‘The current policy forces doctors to retire at the peak of their experience, around age 60, when they are most valuable in terms of skill and mentorship.
‘Instead of reaping the fruits of their training, they are either pushed out or recycled as contract staff’, he said.
Dr Kehinde also criticised the strategy of increasing medical school admissions without tackling the root causes of brain drain such as poor welfare, mental stress, and inadequate infrastructure.
‘Increasing training without fixing the root causes which include poor welfare, mental stress, and inadequate facilities—it is simply exporting more doctors. It’s like pouring water into a leaking bucket’, he added.
He pointed out that Lagos State had already extended the retirement age for teachers, lecturers, and judges, and should do the same for healthcare professionals.
‘The health sector should not be left behind. Lagos is the centre of excellence. If the healthcare system collapses here, it is a reflection of the entire country’, he warned.
The NMA maintained that retaining experienced professionals would bridge staffing gaps, improve mentorship, and reduce the cost and urgency of constant recruitment.
Dr Kehinde also drew attention to the growing crisis faced by young doctors struggling to secure mandatory one-year internship placements, describing the situation as ‘a ticking time bomb’.
He explained that although medical school enrolment had increased nationwide, accredited internship slots had not expanded proportionately, leaving many graduates stranded.
‘Doctors have graduated for over a year, some close to two years, and are still roaming around looking for where to do their internship. It’s becoming a serious problem’, he lamented.
While acknowledging that Lagos had added a few general hospitals to the existing accredited centres, such as Gbagada General Hospital, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, and the Federal Medical Centre, he noted that these hospitals could only accommodate 20 to 30 interns at a time.
‘Many of these centres only take 20 or 30 interns at a time. Yet, every medical school, both public and private, is expanding its student intake. When they graduate, where will they go?’ he queried.
Dr Kehinde described the government’s approach to training and placement as uncoordinated and unsustainable.
‘You can’t train a student for six years and then abandon them to scramble for internship slots like they’re begging for jobs’, he said.
He warned that unless urgent action was taken to accredit more hospitals and build a structured internship pipeline, the healthcare system would face deeper crises, including increased brain drain and service disruptions.
The NMA called on both federal and state governments, as well as the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, to urgently prioritise infrastructure for internships as part of healthcare and education reform.
‘If we don’t fix this bottleneck now, we’ll be losing even more doctors to Japa before they ever get a chance to serve the country’, Kehinde warned.
The letter concluded with an appeal to Sanwo-Olu to align Lagos State policy with the Federal Government’s THEME-PLUS agenda and national healthcare reform goals.
