MDCAN urges N’Assembly to reject bill on delaying licensing of medical, dental graduates

Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has urged the House of Representatives to discard a bill seeking to bond fresh, medical and dental graduates for five years before they are licensed.

The association made the call in a resolution reached after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, held in Taraba State.

Describing the bill as “obnoxious and inhumane”, MDCAN said it “has the potential to worsen ongoing massive brain drain in the health and medical education sectors.”

Jointly signed by National President, Dr. Victor Makanjuola and Secretary, Dr. Yemi R. Raji, the association said it is “willing to be part of any constructive engagement towards genuine efforts at stemming the tide of ongoing brain drain in the health and medical education sectors of our economy.”

The association urged stakeholders to devise ways to increase the number of medical and dental doctors graduating from medical schools, while improving their practice competencies. It said this “should be in addition to increasing the number and quality of medical teachers in the country.”

MDCAN, which insisted on upward review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for all doctors in, line with increment of salaries for other civil servants, tasked government agencies responsible for appointment of Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) and Medical Directors (MDs) to “avoid unnecessary delays in the process and avoid confusion and insinuations that may detract from effective and efficient running of tertiary health institutions.”

The association, which is of the view that substantive increase in retirement age remains one of the best ways to buffer the already dwindling numbers of health workers in Nigeria, said: “There is need for the appropriate organ of government to circularise and implement this policy immediately, in the interest of Nigerians who are at the receiving end of the effects of massive brain drain in tahe health sector.”

MDCAN also called on the Abia State government to immediately offset outstanding salary arrears of “members and all health workers in the state.”

It added: “The remunerations of these medical trainers should be insulated against inflationary trends to mitigate the brain drain in the medical education sector.”