Amendment of Medical and Dental Practitioners Act 2004: Legalisation of forced labour?

 

Some days back, the House of Representatives introduced a new Bill sponsored by a member of the House of Representatives – Ganiyu Johnson, an All-Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Lagos, which seeks to amend the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act 2004.

If passed into law, it will mandate all Nigerian-trained medical and dental practitioners to practice for a minimum of five years in the country before being granted a full license to practice with the aim of making it difficult for medical and dental practitioners to relocate from Nigeria.

The basis of the bill is to curb brain drain in the healthcare sector and in his argument, Hon. Johnson said  it is only fair for medical doctors, who enjoyed taxpayer subsidies on their training, to give back to the society before leaving Nigeria to practice abroad.

The proposed Bill continues to generate controversy even as the bill passed its second reading, and there seems to be just criticisms and little support. It has been argued that the law if passed would not only be unconstitutional but also a breach of the fundamental human rights of medical workers in Nigeria.

Those against it argued that by the provisions of Section 34(1)(c) of the 1999 Constitution  which allows every individual to respect for the dignity of his person and stipulates that no person shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour, requiring medical students to work for five years before being given their license is illegal because it amounts to forced or compulsory labour.

And going by this, it can be said that if passed, the law would breach the fundamental human rights of doctors to work without force. And whether the law would be passed .

So, for people against the law, this is the time to act as the next stage of the Bill is the Committee Stage and this involves public hearings, where any member of the public may be allowed to make contributions to the public debate of the Bill. Don’t just criticize on social media, take action.

 

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