Foreign-trained doctors and MDCN standards

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) was recently in the news over the abysmal failure of foreign-trained doctors in the examination that would qualify them to be licensed to practice as medical doctors in the country. The Registrar of MDCN, Dr. Tajudeen Sanusi, had declared and insisted that 437 out of the 695 […]

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) was recently in the news over the abysmal failure of foreign-trained doctors in the examination that would qualify them to be licensed to practice as medical doctors in the country.

The Registrar of MDCN, Dr. Tajudeen Sanusi, had declared and insisted that 437 out of the 695 foreign trained doctors failed the Council’s qualifying examination. The exam took place November 15-17, 2017 after three months of training.

Sequel to this development, the forum of parents of the foreign trained doctors petitioned Senate President Bukola Saraki alleging that the exam was marred by irregularities; accusing the Registrar of the Council of misconduct. The parents in a petition signed by Sanusi Ajiya and others accused Dr. Sanusi of tyranny, treachery, bias and extortion.

Reacting to the allegations, Dr. Sanusi said “I firmly state that I am a loyal public servant with high regards for ethics and do not and will not conduct myself in the manner I have been alleged in the petition”.

Also commenting on the matter, an external examiner to the Council Dili Dogo, affirmed that the exam was done fairly; adding that the result is a true reflection of the examination. The Senate Committee on Health promised to investigate the matter.

Now, before we go into discussing the result of the MDCN assessment test that was greeted with uproar from candidates and their parents, it is important and desirably relevant that we begin with an overview of where the foreign trained doctors were coming from.

It would be recalled that MDCN had in July 2012 announced that no foreign doctors would be allowed to practice in Nigeria after October 2012 unless evidence is provided to prove that he/she was licensed to practice in his/her country of study.

In a recent interview granted Daily Trust on Saturday in its December 2017 edition mentioned that only 8 out of the 695 candidates that presented themselves for the assessment exam had practicing license from their respective counties of study.

This simply means that if MDCN were to be very strict, only those 8 candidates would have been allowed to sit for the exam. Nonetheless, all the 695 candidates that presented themselves were given the opportunity to prove their competence through the exam which, again, they failed. The high failure rate in the MDCN exam is evidently a true reflection of the low percentage rate of those who had practicing license from their countries of study.

If you trained as a doctor or dentist in a country and actually qualified to practice, you should have been licensed to practice in that country. The lack of such practicing evidence by many foreign doctors raises some academic and professional questions. If, for any reason, a foreign trained doctor was not licensed to practice by relevant professional authorities in his/her country of study, why must MDCN be under obligation to issue a practicing license to such a candidate especially when he/she failed the requisite assessment test required to be passed by every foreign doctor?

Now, let us come back home. Besides setting standards, MDCN is a reputable regulatory and professional organization in Nigeria with a mandate, among other functions, to determine who is qualified to practice as a doctor or dentist in Nigeria.

It has a duty, therefore, of ensuring that standards are maintained. Authorities at the MDCN would have betrayed their oath of office and failed in their professional duties if unqualified persons, no matter where they trained (at home or abroad) are licensed to practice medicine or dentistry in the country.

MDCN cannot afford to compromise practicing standards in Nigeria because medicine and dentistry involve human life. Furthermore, it would be cantankerously ridiculous for MDCN to lower its standards for the sake of foreign trained doctors.

After all, their countries of study (which refused to license most of them) would never lower their standards for our home trained doctors who apply to practice there. To strengthen and enhance their own professional standards, foreign countries subject Nigerian trained registrars and consultants who apply to practice there to the same exam that qualify their doctors for houseman-ship. It is important for all stakeholders in this matter to understand that the academic achievements (however high or low) of foreign trained doctors (their countries of study notwithstanding) should not and cannot determine the standards set by MDCN.

Talking about quality control in the MDCN exam as well as the validity of its results, the MDCN Registrar explained that external examiners are available to moderate all aspects of the exam. As obtains in every exam, external examiners scrutinize and moderate exam questions, marking schemes and the results. External examiners’ decisions supersede that of every board of examiners. One, thus, finds the personalization of the MDCN exam by parents of affected candidates inconceivable. They accused Dr. Sanusi of bias against their children for studying medicine abroad. But how?

As they accuse Dr. Sanusi with their index fingers, they failed to realize that four other fingers are pointing back at themselves. Believing that not all medical schools abroad meet minimum standards including training facilities to secure MDCN accreditation if they were to be in Nigeria, it would be unfair for parents to transfer the blames of sending their children to such medical schools to MDCN or Dr. Sanusi. The mental ability of a student to cope with the intellectual demands of studying medicine and dentistry is another factor for parents to appreciate. Sometimes, some parents compel their children to study medicine or dentistry for various reasons even when such children lack the aptitude for the course.

Let us remember that the Nigerian Law School has the same kind of exam for its lawyers, whether home or foreign trained that wish to practice as lawyers in Nigeria. Candidates also fail Law School exam but such hasn’t been in the news as the case of foreign trained doctors. As parents, we should counsel our children to consider failure in a particular exam as an inspiration to work harder to pass it in the next attempt. More so, those who fail the MDCN exam could apply to re-write it again.

May Allah (SWT) guide all those who work hard to succeed in their endeavours and grant us the sensitivity to shun sentiments in specialized matters involving human life, amin