The Ondo State chapter of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria has called on the National Universities Commission to stop meddling in the affairs of the postgraduate medical training programme.
This, it argued, was because the mandate for postgraduate medical training was in the purview of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria.
The association had been on strike to protest against an “obnoxious circular” by the NUC that possession of PhD must be a prerequisite for career progression of all academic staff, including clinical lecturers.
The Vice-Chairman of MDCAN in Ondo State, Mrs Omolayo Olubosede, who spoke with journalists on Monday in Akure, the state capital, said the association rejected the circular in its entirety.
According to her, a medical consultant needed not to have a PhD because he or she had spent more years than what a PhD holder would have put into it in the university.
She said, “We demand that the NUC should desist forthwith from meddling in the postgraduate medical training, which is in the purview of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria.
“We call on the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria to live up to its statutory power of awarding degrees to postgraduate trainees.
“The NUC circular, if allowed to stand, will worsen the already precarious health situation in the country by encouraging continuous brain drain of our best from the university system.”
According to her, the Executive Secretary of the NUC has been speaking from both sides of his mouth, saying “in one breath, he mentioned that possession of PhD is voluntary and optional and in another breath making it mandatory for career progression for clinical lecturers.”
She noted that the NUC was trying to meddle in the postgraduate medical training in the country, thereby usurping the powers of the National Postgraduate Medical College.
Olubosede recalled that the national body of the association had given the NUC till February 24, 2020, to withdraw the circular otherwise the association would withdraw the services of clinical lecturers in teaching hospitals across the country.
Source: Punch
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