Lack of Doctors in Africa

Ideally, Africa has faced the issue of doctor shortage than the rest of the world. Moreover, the lack of adequate doctors has often been the main reasons established for the continent's health issue (Ayo-Yusuf). For example, in a country such as Kenya, the doctor to patient ration is roughly one to seventeen-thousand, or in South Africa where the same quota is one to one-thousand or Sub-African nations where less than two nurses are in charge of one-thousand patients (Ayo-Yusuf). In simple terms, according to a statistical analysis conducted by the World Health Organization on the ratio of health care workers to that of the patients in 2015, the enterprise deduced that 1.30 health workers were responsible for caring for roughly one-thousand patient; therefore, an indication that Africa the most affected continent in terms of doctor shortage (World Heath Organization (Africa)). In other words, the paper analyzes the shortage of doctors in Africa, by focusing on the reasons for the deficit as well as recommendations towards solving the issue.

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Africa is a consentient known to be composed of third world nations as well as developing nations; thus, making it face different, unanticipated challenges in the health sector (Kinfu et al.). First, due to various environmental compositions such as the Sub-Saharan Africa that lies in the south among others, Africa has the weakest health care system in the world; thus, making the broad population to lack access to quality health care services. In such cases, the main issue to lack of doctors lies beyond the scope of resources but the approach of employment schemes (Kinfu et al.). Public method tends to initiate lots of huge workloads that results to physician burnout with minimum pay. Moreover, most of the doctors in Africa prefer treating fewer patients with the expectations of a better salary. Or in some cases, public medical doctors resort to taking two jobs from different institutions to receive a better income, and such a decision affects the concentration and the delivery of service to the African population since they are often tired (World Heath Organization (Africa)).

Next, Africa faces the issue of inadequate quality resources to boost the growth of the medical industry. One approach to analyzing scarce resources is the training of doctors within Africa (Haseeb). Furthermore, Africa is known to be gradually developing; thus, the standard of training its doctors is not on the same levels as that of the developed nation. Since each doctor in Africa inspires to become the best, the issue of immigration has become a barrier towards solving the problem of doctor shortages in Africa (Kinfu et al.). The main reason behind such a claim is that when the brilliant and dedicated medical students get the opportunity to study abroad or further their studies in developed nations, they either serve as medical personnel in the foreign countries or when they are back they tend to be very costly; thus, discouraging the government from hiring them (Kinfu et al.). Also, these doctors tend to favor the economic stability of a nation than the health condition; therefore, these same doctors will opt to work in foreign land than their respective countries since they believe they deserve a better life; all in all, a clear case of lack of doctors in Africa (World Heath Organization (Africa)).

To conclude, the only way of solving the issue of lack of doctors in Africa is by ensuring that the medical education industry is of high and quality standards. Such standards will act as a boost to all the students by promoting all the equipment and resources that improve the discipline. Moreover, the government with the support of private entities needs to join hands to encourage medicine in Africa; thus, ensure that doctors get all the requirements to perform their work and ensure they are compensated adequately.

Works Cited

Ayo-Yusuf, Lekan. South Africa needs a new way to address the doctor shortage. 14 May 2015. <https://theconversation.com/south-africa-needs-a-new-way-to-address-the-doctor-shortage-41136>. Accessed on 14 March 2019

Haseeb, S. The critical shortage of healthcare workers in Sub-Saharan Africa: A comprehensive review. 8 April 2018. <https://ysjournal.com/the-critical-shortage-of-healthcare-workers-in-sub-saharan-africa-a-comprehensive-review/>. Accessed on 14 March 2019

Kinfu, Yohannes, et al. The health worker shortage in Africa: are enough physicians and nurses being trained? 26 January 2008. <https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/3/08-051599/en/>. Accessed on 14 March 2019

World Heath Organization (Africa). What needs to be done to solve the shortage of health workers in the African Region. 24 August 2017. <https://www.afro.who.int/news/what-needs-be-done-solve-shortage-health-workers-african-region>. Accessed on 14 March 2019