NUC/MDCAN face-off: MDCAN orders all consultants to stop teaching medical students due to failure of NUC to withdraw controversial circular.
The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, MDCAN, has called on all its members across the country to stop teaching all medical students in all public Universities and clinical colleges nationwide. The group made the call on Tuesday in a press briefing held in Jos, following the expiration of the 10-day ultimatum given to National Universities Commission, NUC to withdraw its controversial circular directing Vice Chancellors and Registrars of National Medical Colleges not to recognise doctors as lecturers without PhD qualification.
The expiration of the ultimatum ended Monday midnight. The National President of group, Prof. Kenneth Ozoilo said members of the group would henceforth focus their energies on caring for patients, wishing the NUC and the universities good luck in finding the doctors with PhDs to man their medical schools.
The crux of the matter all began on the 24thof December 2019, when the NUC gave a directive to all University Vice-Chancellors and Registrars stating that doctors who did not possess a PhD should not be allowed to teach in the university. The association of doctors through its national president Professor Kenneth Ozoilo a consultant at the Jos University Teaching Hospital gave a response on the 31stof January, giving the NUC a 24 days ultimatum to withdraw the letter or else its members would withdraw its teaching services from all federal universities and even progress to halt teaching services at postgraduate medical training.
Dr Obimakinde, a practicing medical doctor here in Nigeria has this to say about this stand off between the two bodies: “The Face-Off don start. NUC should just stop grandstanding. Medical education from time immemorial has been championed by Fellows who get appointed into Colleges of Medicine as lecturers. Consultants training medical & Dental students over the years hasn’t diminished the standard of medical education. Perhaps NUC need to tell us how a PhD holder in Surgery will better a fellow in teaching Medical students. 13,791 out of 177,626 Medical schools Faculty members in the United States or 7.76% of all US medical school faculty holding both MD (MBBS) and Ph.D. Less than 8% in all have a PhD! So what is NUC shouting about?”
