Re: Licensing medical practice

Every doctor who wishes to practice in Nigeria must be qualified and certified as such by institutions accredited or recognized by the MDCN. He must apply to be registered under one of the three categories of registration and if registered ensure that he is licensed to practice before practicing. The four categories of registration are:a.   […]

Every doctor who wishes to practice in Nigeria must be qualified and certified as such by institutions accredited or recognized by the MDCN. He must apply to be registered under one of the three categories of registration and if registered ensure that he is licensed to practice before practicing. The four categories of registration are:
a.    Provisional Registration;
b.    Full Registration; and
c.    Temporary Registration.
The relevant category to this rejoinder is the Temporary Registration. This applies to expatriate practitioners who wish to practice in Nigeria. The application for this category of registration is done by the health institution wishing to engage the services of the expatriate doctor and is tied to his continued employment by that institution. In order words, the registration lapses if his employment with the institution terminates. The process of registration must have been completed before the arrival of the practitioner in Nigeria. The procedure for registration is published on our website and is well known to most employers of medical practitioners.
The fact that an expatriate, no matter how skilled he claims to be, has applied to practice does not confer on him the right to practice medicine in Nigeria without due authorization. Every Nigerian medical or dental practitioner knows the consequence of practicing medicine in any foreign land without due authorization. A few have served time in jail for this.
The case of Dr Basina’s registration, which is the focus of the editorial, was faulty ab initio as his application was submitted personally and not by the prospective employer. It is pertinent to point out here that the actions of his employers and that of the Medical Director of the Asokoro District Hospital contravene the provisions of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act.
MDCN makes no apologies for this stand because it is in consonance with international best practices. No Nigerian doctor, no matter how well qualified, can be allowed to practice in any foreign country without this necessary check. Why should the situation be different in Nigeria?
 Council cannot ignore her responsibility and watch Nigerians being the subject of quackery at the hands of an unregistered person simply because they are Nigerians or because some Nigerians are prepared to lower standards for unwholesome reasons.
The deliberate misrepresentation of facts to Nigerians as contained in the editorial leaves much to be desired and encourages quackery and foreign doctors to flout the laws of Nigeria.
The MDCN is concerned and committed to better healthcare delivery to Nigerians.

 Dr A.A. Ibrahim, mni, Registrar, MDCN