Pathologist decries shortage of practitioners

Dr Precious Obinna, a Pathologist based in Abuja, has called on the Federal Government to recruit more pathologists to bridge the shortage of practitioners in the country.

She in Abuja said that the number of pathologists in the country was grossly inadequate.

A pathologist is a medical doctor who studies blood, body fluids, organs and diagnose disease and illness.

She stated that the job of a pathologist is to provide doctors with information needed to ensure appropriate treatment.

She said that though they might not be directly responsible for dealing with patients directly, but they play a vital role in daily medical practice.

Obinna advised parents to encourage their children to study pathology in university, adding that most parents tend to prefer surgical or clinical specialties, reason pathology was underrepresented.

According to her, more hands are needed to ensure expedited diagnosis in Nigeria as there are very few pathologists.

“I can say that I am proud and privileged to be a pathologist because we are physician’s physician,” she said.

She noted that although pathologists have no direct interaction with patients, they however interact with patient’s doctor thereby telling them what was wrong with the patient.

According to her, Nigeria has about 500 practising pathologists serving a population of about 200 million, translating to a ratio of about one pathologist to 400,000 persons as against the standard of one pathologist to 20,000 persons.