The Ministry of Health says it plans to train over one thousand medical personnel every year in order to improve the quality of healthcare in the country.

The undersecretary in the Ministry says lack of skilled doctors and nurses is slowing down South Sudan’s effort of achieving World Health Organization’s standards.

According to officials, South Sudan has about 120 medical doctors and just over 100 registered nurses for an estimated population of nearly nine million people.

The health agency puts the doctor-patient ratio at 23: 100,000.

Dr Makur Koriom says the WHO expects more health professionals to be deployed in areas populated by people across the country.

“For us to get 23 doctors per that population requires a lot of resources. It means you need to train the people; you need to be able to recruit, because training alone will not be enough, but they must also get into the system,” he said.

“But we have to start, and we have started. According to the data we have, we need a minimum of 1,700 skilled healthcare professionals a year to get into the health system.”

Dr. Makur said the Ministry also plans to open five health training institutes in the country.

He said each will be in Torit, Bor, Yambio, Wau and Aweil towns.