Distribution of Neurosurgical Workforce and Infrastructure in Nigeria in 2024: A Cross-Sectional National Overview

Nigerian neurosurgery has remained under the existential threat of poor political decisions of governments and the resultant socio-economic instability. Currently, the country is undergoing its worst form of insecurity and brain drain, as skilled professionals emigrate abroad to more secure and safer countries to improve their income and living standards. The health sector, especially neurosurgery, is one of the hardest hit. The objective of this study is to profile the available neurosurgery infrastructure and manpower in the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

This involves an online cross-sectional survey by questionnaire, phone calls, and social media chats of the neurosurgeons working in all 44 neurosurgery facilities listed on the Nigerian Academy of Neurological Science (NANS) website. This was matched with secondary data on the Nigerian regional population figures obtained from internet fact-checks. Descriptive statistics were used to interpret and analyse the collated data.

There were 44 neurosurgery facilities under the leadership of 111 out of the 166 certified neurosurgeons; the rest had emigrated due to the economic hardships of the country. The neurosurgeon: population ratio was 1:2.12million. The North-East Zone has the least number of neurosurgeons.

The number of neurosurgeons per Nigerian population is poor. Furthermore, the abysmal statistics and the discrepancy in the regional distribution even make access worse in the North East region of the country.