1.2m APPLIED FOR MEDICAL COURSES, 105,226 ADMITTED –JAMB

"Data obtained from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, the agency responsible for the regulation of admissions into tertiary institutions in Nigeria revealed that out of over 1,256,494 candidates who applied for Medicine-related programmes in Nigerian public and private universities in three years, only 105,226 were admitted.

The figures were obtained from the statistics of admissions for 2019, 2020 and 2021. The PUNCH reports that the admissions for 2022 are still ongoing in some universities due to delays from the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities and other university-based unions.

Some Medicine-related courses in Nigerian universities include Medicine and Surgery, Nursing, Anatomy, Physiotherapy and Pharmacy among others.

In the data obtained by our correspondent, in 2019, a total of 436,799 applied for 30,111 quotas for Medicine-related courses, however, 34,734 were admitted. The figure was higher than the recommended quota by JAMB.

Further analysis of the data revealed that in 2019, JAMB increased the quota for Medicine-related courses in Nigerian universities to 43,717.

That year, a total of 452,196 applied but only 36,821 applicants were admitted.