Be more concerned about patient health, doctors told

May 21, 2014

A renowned Professor of Medicine, Joseph Otubu, has advised doctors to always exhibit honesty and remember the Hippocratic Oath which stipulates that the lives of patients come first before money.

Otubu said while the main purpose of medicine was to provide healing, service to humanity was an eventual ingredient of medical practice.

Speaking as a guest lecturer in Abuja during the induction ceremony of 261 doctors by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, he said, “The practice of medicine is not for profit motives but to help humanity. So, it should not be seen in the same context as every other business.”

The new inductees were part of the 389 candidates that registered for the April assessment examination conducted for foreign medical and dental qualification holders and also graduates from Nigerian universities whose accreditation for training were withdrawn before the graduation of their students.

The Registrar of MDCN, Dr. Abdulmumini Ibrahim, in his remark said it was important to ensure quality in medical education, as provided in the Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Act CAP M8, LFN 2004.

He noted that over the years, there had been increase in the number of medical and dental graduates applying to sit for the Council Assessment Examination.

“As of today, more than 1,500 Nigerians are studying in various African countries and about the same number in Ukraine and other Eastern Europe.

“This is a major area of concern that accounts for most failures, especially among those that studied in languages other than English.”

He blamed the increasing number of Nigerians studying outside the country on insufficient admission space in Nigerian universities.

He also identified failure of some medical/dental schools to meet the minimum requirements of the council, resulting in withdrawal of accreditation or partially accredited medical schools.

The council, he said, was irrevocably committed to sanitising medical training in Nigeria.

The Chairman of Council, Prof. Jonathan Azubuike, noted that the idea of setting exams for foreign-trained doctors came up some years ago when it was discovered that most doctors trained abroad were not as good as the ones trained in Nigeria, hence the need for the examinations.