The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria has described Ukraine’s medical programme as fraudulent.
Many Nigerians anxious to study abroad see Ukraine as a good option.
But in an interview with Daily Trust, the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Dr Tajudeen Sanusi, said Russia is the language of expression in Ukraine, but the country hurriedly set up a parallel programme because of the quest for medical education by students from English-speaking developing countries.
“They (Ukraine) don’t train them using patients. They train them using mannequins only. They don’t even see or touch patients and they are coming here to talk rubbish,” he said.
On the controversy between MDCN and foreign trained doctors over qualifying exams to practise in Nigeria, he said the council has a curriculum and syllabus, and is contained in the Red Book, contrary to what the foreign-trained medical graduates said.
He said “So what else do they want us to do? We did not make it compulsory for anybody. We said go and train wherever you want to train and present yourself for the exams.”
On the issue of going for service, he said they are not competent enough to handle patients.
“Someone who has not been certified to be able to treat patients will be mobilised for youth service as what?” he asked.
“They cannot intimidate anybody. We have a responsibility in the council to safeguard the health of Nigerians and other people living in this country without fear or favour. We don’t train them, and these people are not even allowed to practise in those countries where they trained.
“What we are doing for them is called damage control. Some of them are not even qualified to sit for our examination. They are our children. If they don’t accept them over there, can we throw them away? That is why we put up a programme for them but they complained and we removed it, yet they are complaining.
“We would not allow people that are not competent to have access to our patients and start killing people.”
