537 doctors are set to qualify as specialists as the institution adapts postgraduate training to Nigeria’s changing health needs
By Bunmi Yekini
Nigeria’s apex postgraduate medical training institution is expanding specialist education in cancer and emergency medicine as it grapples with a growing exodus of doctors seeking better economic opportunities abroad, its president said.
Prof. Anthony Ikefuna, president of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, said the college was responding to changing health needs by strengthening specialist training, including through its newly established Faculty of Radiation and Clinical Oncology.
The faculty will provide deeper training in cancer management, including the use of radiation, medicines and newer approaches such as immunotherapy, Ikefuna told reporters ahead of the college’s 2026 convocation.
“We want them not only to study, they are going to do an in-depth research on some of the things we can do using the things we see globally,” he said.
The move comes as Nigeria faces persistent pressure on its health system, with doctors and other health professionals leaving the country for jobs and training opportunities overseas.
Ikefuna described the migration of medical professionals, commonly referred to in Nigeria as “japa”, as one of the biggest challenges facing postgraduate medical training.
“A lot of our people are leaving,” he said, adding that economic pressures were a major factor.
Doctors who once travelled abroad for short programmes and returned were increasingly staying overseas, he said, making retention a more difficult challenge for Nigeria.
“Many of the things they are saying are genuine,” Ikefuna said. “If you are not well to do, you cannot feed your family, of course, why are you staying here? You’ve got to find a way to survive.”
The college trains, examines and certifies medical and dental doctors as specialists and consultants and operates at the apex of postgraduate medical education in Nigeria.
Its resident doctors combine specialist training with frontline healthcare delivery, creating what Ikefuna described as a dual pressure on trainees.
Despite the migration trend, he said demand for specialist training in Nigeria was rising, with increased interest reflected in the number of candidates expected to sit the college’s examinations.
The college’s graduates are also being accepted internationally, he said, but that recognition can contribute to the retention problem because doctors who leave for overseas opportunities often do not return.
Ikefuna said the government had therefore called for an increase in the college’s training quota.
At the 2026 convocation, 537 fellows are expected to receive certification as specialists across the college’s various disciplines. The college also awards Doctor of Medicine degrees, diplomas and post-fellowship diplomas.
The fellowship represents the highest professional qualification awarded by the college, Ikefuna said, with successful fellows eligible to work as consultants in hospitals and other health facilities.
The institution, established in 1979, currently operates 17 faculties, including Anaesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Public Health and Community Medicine, and Radiation and Clinical Oncology.
The new oncology faculty reflects what Ikefuna described as an effort to align postgraduate medical education with Nigeria’s changing epidemiological and socioeconomic realities.
He rejected the suggestion that cancer itself was necessarily increasing, saying greater public awareness may be contributing to the perception that cases were rising.
He said the college would focus instead on research and adapting global advances in cancer treatment to Nigeria’s circumstances.
The college is also reviewing its postgraduate curricula on a five-year cycle, with a Senate committee screening proposed changes before they are submitted to the Senate for approval.
Ikefuna said curriculum changes were intended to ensure that specialist doctors were trained to address the health challenges they would encounter in Nigeria.
The college’s 2026 convocation is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 17, at its premises, where newly qualified fellows and other graduates will be formally recognised.