From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), yesterday, inducted new 205 foreign-trained medical doctors and dentists who were successful in the assessment test conducted by the council recently.
The induction exercise conducted at MDCN’s headquarters in Abuja witnessed the participation of family and friends of the new doctors, as well as government officials, including the Minister of State for Health, Tunji Alausa; former ministers of Health and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Isaac Adewole and Adamu Aliero, respectively, among several others.
MDCN Registrar, Tajudeeen Sanusi, told newsmen after the induction ceremony that over 700 foreign-trained doctors mostly from Ukraine participated in the assessment test, out of which 495 (72.6 per cent) failed the assessment examination.
He said the assessment examination was designed by MDCN to test the capacity of the doctors vis-a-vis the knowledge and skills they claimed to had acquired from their individual institutions abroad.
“This time, we had over 700 applications from the foreign-trained doctors. Unfortunately, 205 passed the examinations indicating 27.4 per cent success rate. Ukraine trained doctors were more than candidates from other places. Unfortunately, the assessment test exposed that they never had enough clinical trainings that could have earned them MDCN certification.
“For the locally trained doctors, we have our own monitoring tools unlike the doctors that were trained abroad. Local institutions are always under our watch and we don’t hesitate to take actions whenever we suspect any foul play,” he said.
He said the newly inducted foreign-trained doctors would embark on compulsory one year houseman-ship, and would be expected to complete the exercise uninterrupted.
“They are expected to spend 12 uninterrupted weeks in any of the postings. There’s 52 weeks in a year. They are expected to spend 48 weeks in active service and use the remaining four weeks as leave.”
Alausa congratulated the inductees and urged them to be dedicated to the service of God and humanity, in line with the calling of the medical profession.
FCT Chairman of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Charles Ugwuanyi, urged the new doctors to work closely with their senior colleagues so they can be properly tutored and guided for a crisis-free career.
He advised them to love their patients and know their limit, suggesting that they refer patients when necessary and not allow cases to deteriorate before doing the needful.
He congratulated them and assured them that NMA will be willing and available to support their career growth.