Isaac Shobayo, Author at Tribune Online

The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has frowned at the exclusion of medical and dental lecturers in the recent vacant advertorial for the selection of the Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Anambra State. The MDCAN, in a statement signed by its President, Prof. Mohammad Aminu, and Secretary, Prof. Daiyabu Ibrahim, respectively, said the exclusion is not only unjust but undermines the critical role they played in the academic and administrative leadership of the institution. ALSO READ: You’ll be forgotten politically if…, Primate Ayodele warns Wike It further argued that medical and dental education is a vital part of the university's mission to produce competent healthcare professionals who contribute to the national and global health systems. According to the association, it is imperative that they be given due representation in matters that concern the governance and future of the institution. It also pointed out that the exclusion of their members who are distinguished scholars and administrators with vast experience in both academic and clinical fields sends a message that their contributions to the university's growth and development are undervalued. "Such a move could lead to a breakdown in academic collaboration, reduce morale among its members, and ultimately affect the quality of medical and dental education at UNIZIK." The association also called on the Governing Council of UNIZIK as well as other relevant stakeholders to withdraw their earlier advertorial for the selection of the Vice Chancellor and ensure that all academic disciplines, particularly the medical and dental lecturers, are well represented. MDCAN further explained that the call is in the best interest of maintaining the university's status as a centre of excellence in medical and dental education and ensuring a balanced and all-inclusive leadership selection process. They further opined that MDCAN remained committed to supporting academic excellence and leadership in Nigerian universities and urged for a swift resolution of the impass, stressing that the association is monitoring the situation at UNIZIK and hoped that the situation will not be allowed to degenerate into a national crisis. It will be recalled that MDCAN is an umbrella body of all medical and dental consultants working in government hospitals and in universities and offering specialised medical and dental services in the various hospitals. They are the repository of medical and dental education in the country by being the teachers of all undergraduate medical and dental students in various colleges of medicine (or colleges of health sciences) situated in the various universities and teaching in the facilities of basic clinical sciences and dentistry, with graduates awarded the MBBS/MBBCh/BDS degrees. The medical and dental doctors are also responsible for the postgraduate training of the resident doctors that specialise in different fields of medicine and dentistry, culminating in the award of the fellowship by the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN), or its equivalent, from the West African Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons (WACP/WACS) and other postgraduate medical and dental programs around the globe, among others. NIGERIAN TRIBUNE