Doctors kick against scrap of MDCN board

Nigerian Medical Association has called for the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), which regulates the training and practice of doctors, to be exempted from dissolution. It came in the wake of a blanket dissolution of all boards and councils in federal government agencies and parastatals. Only governing councils in universities and legal education […]

Nigerian Medical Association has called for the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), which regulates the training and practice of doctors, to be exempted from dissolution.

It came in the wake of a blanket dissolution of all boards and councils in federal government agencies and parastatals.

Only governing councils in universities and legal education remain intact, but NMA in a statement expressed worry to President Muhammadu Buhari about "confusion surrounding the general proclamation."

MDCN’s board has been dissolved several times in the last 20 years and that is "one of the major reasons for the unsavoury developments and instability in medical education, practice and discipline in Nigeria," said NMA president Dr Kayode Obembe.

Without the council, there is no regulation for medical colleges and medical curriculums to train doctors, no supervision of their practice and no disciplinary body to sanction unethical conduct, Obembe explained.

"The consequences have been devastating and detrimental to both the professions and society – sub-standard medical and dental schools and programmes were granted accreditations; thus producing incompetent practitioners; curricula for education remained un-reviewed and updated for decades; codes of ethics remained obsolete and could not meet the challenges of time; practitioners engaged in unethical conducts without trials and sanctions as the dissolution of Council is akin to the closure of courts for the trial of erring practitioners."

NMA said the council and other professional regulatory bodies should be shielded from political influences, noting the Act enabling MDCN does not provide for a politician member.

"So far it has not been well with medical education and practice in this country; certain structures are needed to drive needed changes and the Governing Council of the MDCN is top on the list," said Obembe.