By Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has inducted 249 foreign trained medical and dental graduates.
A total of 686 Medical and 10 Dental candidates registered for the MDCN assessment examination, out of which 243 medical and six dental surgeons passed. This represents 35 per cent success for the medical and 60 per cent success for the dental, making the overall success rate 35.7 per cent.
Thus, 437 foreign medical students who sat for the examination at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, UITH were deemed to have failed the exam following the release of the result and have since challenged the outcome of the result, and have approached the Senate and the law court for resolution.
In his remarks, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, expressed concern over the number of students that failed the assessment examination and blamed the high rate of failure on the institutions attended by some of the students.
The minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health Mr. Osarenoma Clement Uwaifo therefore advised parents who are planning to send their children and wards abroad for training to ensure that they are trained in accredited institutions.
He said: “This is a very poor performance and suggests that we should be mindful of where we send our children and wards to for medical and dental training.
“My advice to parents who are planning to send their children and wards abroad for training is to ensure that they are trained in accredited institutions. They should contact the various health regulatory agencies to obtain this information. It is very disheartening for me to hear that certain candidates are not able to sit for the Assessment Examination of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria because their training institutions are not listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS).â€
In his welcome address, the Registrar of MDCN, Dr. Tajudeen Sanusi, admitted the furor that trailed the last examination, saying candidates who were not successful still have the opportunity to repeat the examination.
He said: “The outcome of the last examination had made the journey from the period of remedial course till the present time very turbulent, as Council was and it is still faced with the challenges of having to explain and defend the poor performance of some of the candidates that were unsuccessful at the examination.
He explained that MDCN does not play any direct or major role in the conduct of assessment examination.
“Let it be known to the public that MDCN does not play any direct or major role in the conduct of the assessment examination. The council only chooses a fully accredited teaching hospital as the examination centre and appoints external examiners to supervise the examination to ensure quality control.
“Furthermore, the major concern of the MDCN is the overall health and well-being of Nigerians and other people living in Nigeria. As such, if quality control is ignored at the point of admitting practitioners into the profession, it then means that we could be toying with the lives of people and everyone here knows that once a mistake is made either during diagnosis or management of a patient, the goat may be unimaginable.
