The Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA), Ondo State Chapter, has frowned at attempts by certain individuals and bodies to interfere with regulation of medical education and standards especially as it relates to the board licensing foreign trained medical graduates.
The State Chairman of NMA, Dr Omosehin Adeyemi, told journalists in Akure on Monday that the association has carried out detailed review of the processes and content of these examinations and make bold to say that any medical graduate that fails them should be humble enough to seek help and not engage in brazen arm twisting and blackmail.
“We stand with the MDCN on this and encourage the Registrar to remain undaunted as no one can intimidate him while we watch.
“As stated in the Physicians’ Pledge, we shall do all within our power to “defend the honor and noble traditions of medicine.”
“We wonder why it is only the medical profession that faces this onslaught? Other courses are also read in Ukraine, Sudan, Egypt, Belarus, etc. But it is medicine that must be forced to accept all and sundry to practice whether qualified or not.
“If our government does not value the life of Nigerians then the NMA does and shall insist on not unleashing terror on Nigerians by licensing unqualified medical and dental graduates.
“Those that pass the licensing examinations are not aliens. If you cannot pass then seek help and try again. We wish to especially call on our beloved National Assembly to resist being used under any guise to compromise the quality of healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
“If Nigerian trained doctors and dentists are poorly trained, they won’t be in high demand worldwide. Our government should immediately investigate the quality of medical education being offered to our children in Ukraine.
“Let us stand up in defense of the health of an average Nigeria. As the great physician Hutchinson said “from making the treatment of a disease worse than the disease O Lord, save us.
“We use this medium to humbly sound a note of warning to all and sundry to never try to run Nigerian doctors down in anyway but to always follow due process if aggrieved or in discharging their responsibilities.
“If anyone has any case against a doctor practicing in Nigeria, it should channel such to the Registrar of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for appropriate response being the body statutorily saddled with such responsibility.
“The Nigerian Medical Association hereby express her displeasure at the recent media trial of some healthcare workers by the Minister of Women Affairs. We believe that such behavior is infra dig for one that occupies such a lofty office.
The NMA chairman called on Ondo state government to commence immediate implementation of health workers’ hazard allowance to avert looming strike by medical doctors working in the state government’s hospitals.
Adeyemi pointed out that members working under the state government have been patient enough over the failure of the government to implement a 100 percent Hazard Allowance for them.
He declared that the Association may not be able to guarantee industrial harmony in the health sector, if the state government failed to release a circular for the implementation of the health hazard by Tuesday.
Dr Adeyemi said the hazard allowance, which had been approved since August this year, is being paid by the federal government and some other state governments.
“We as an association are exploring all peaceful avenues towards securing some economic reprieve for our beloved members.
“The progress towards payment of slightly improved salary to our members is just too slow. We are using this opportunity to call on government to immediately commence the payment of the recently reviewed CONMESS and CONHESS salary structures with their arrears and also other allowance for medical doctors and dentists.
“I hope there won’t be need for us to engage in another round of agitation for the implementation of what has been circularized since July 2023. Let’s make hay while the sun shines.”
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