The senate yesterday issued sweeping summons to the Federal Ministry of Health, the National Universities (NUC) and other agencies to address lawmakers on the plight of new medical doctors awaiting residency.

The senate also urged the federal government acredited health institutions for the training of house officers to enforce the utilisation of the full quote.

Other agencies invited are the Provost of Colleges of Medicine, the Nigerian Medical Council (NMC) and the Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) of federal and state medical institutions.

This was sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Mao Ohuabunwa representing Abia North senatorial district.

Leading the debate ,he said the that malaria alone is responsible for 20 per cent of annual deaths in Nigeria with pregnant women and children as the worst affected.

He also said that Pneumonia and other lower respiratory tract diseases are responsible for 19 per cent of all deaths in Nigeria, while Nigeria is the second largest group of people living with HIV with a death rate of 3.1 per cent in 2015.

“Over 140 people everyday in Nigeria die from pregnancy and prenatal related consequences even after recovery.

“Our nation is not doing enough to improve the health statistics and the death rates in our country even by African standards. These can be relevant to how we have addressed the important conditions and timeliness of the training of new doctors who can begin to take new responsibilities.

“The result has been a frustrated class of locum doctors working as contract doctors under very harsh and tedious conditions that encourage quackery,” he said.

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