FG expresses concern over high number of foreign graduates that failed Medical Exam

The Federal Government Thursday expressed serious concern over the high number of foreign medical graduates who failed the professional medical examination conducted by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).

Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole raised the concern as the MDCN inducted the 249 foreign-trained medical and dental graduates, who passed the examination.

While expressing concern over the number of students that failed the assessment examination, the minister blamed the high rate of failure on the institution attended by some of the students.

The Minister who spoke at the induction, therefore, advised parents who are planning to send their children abroad for training to ensure that they attend accredited institutions.

The minister was represented by the Permanent Secretary,  Ministry of  Health, Mr Osarenoma Clement Uwaifo.

According to the minister: “This is a very poor performance and suggests that we should be mindful of where we send our children and wards to for medical and dental training.

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“My advice to parents who are planning to send their children and wards abroad for training is to ensure that they are trained in accredited institutions. They should contact the various health regulatory agencies to obtain this information. It is very disheartening for me to hear that certain candidates are not able to sit for the Assessment Examination of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria because their training institutions are not listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS).

“WDOMS has been developed through a partnership between the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) and the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER). It is important that parents and prospective medical and dental students are well guided to prevent a misadventure in foreign training that would lead to their not being able to get registered and practice in Nigeria.

“I have been assured by the Registrar that the MDCN would be very firm as a regulator of the professions of medicine, dentistry and alternative medicine and would continue to ensure that only graduates of accredited institutions abroad are registered and licensed to practice in Nigeria, for the protection of Nigerians and all other persons who live in this country.”

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, however, inducted 249 foreign-trained medical and dental graduates.

A total of 686 Medical and 10 Dental candidates registered for the MDCN assessment examination, out of which 243 medical and six dental surgeons passed. This represents 35 percent success for the medical graduates and 60 percent success for the dental graduates; making the overall success rate 35.7 percent.

A total of 437 foreign medical students who sat for the examination at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, UITH failed the examination, following the release of the result.

The 437 students have since challenged the outcome of the result, and have also approached the Senate and the law court for resolution.

The MDCN assessment examination is a routine professional examination and it is conducted to assess candidates who were trained outside Nigeria and obtained medical or dental qualifications recognized by the individual medical regulatory body of such countries.

The Registrar General of MDCN, Dr Tajudeen Sanusi, said candidates who were not successful in the examination still has the opportunity to repeat it.

He said: “The outcome of the last examination had made the journey from the period of remedial course till the present time very turbulent, as Council was and it is still faced with the challenges of having to explain and defend the poor performance of some of the candidates that were unsuccessful at the examination.”

However, he explained that MDCN does not play any direct or major role in the conduct of assessment examination.

According to him: “Let it be known to the public that MDCN does not play any direct or major role in the conduct of the assessment examination. The council only chooses a fully accredited teaching hospital as the examination centre and appoints external examiners to supervise the examination to ensure quality control.

“For emphasis, council’s assessment examination like any other professional examination provides equal opportunity of assessment to all candidates at the end of which any candidate who is not successful still has the opportunity to repeat the examination.

“Furthermore, the major concern of the MDCN is the overall health and well-being of Nigerian and other people living in Nigeria. As such, if quality control is ignored at the point of admitting practitioners into the profession, it then means that we could be toying with the lives of people and everyone here knows that once a mistake is made either during diagnosis or management of a patient, the goat may be unimaginable.”