The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has been
inundated with enquiries from the general public and stakeholders in the
medical and dental professions especially training institutions, on the above
subject in view of recent publication by some sister regulatory bodies.
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) is established
by the Medical and Dental Practitioners' Act of 28 June 1988 (Nowcap M8 LFN
2004) as the successor body to the Nigerian Medical Council established by the
Medical and dental Practitioners' Act of 18 December 1963.
The Main
Functions of the Council are specified in section 1(2) of the Act as Follows:
a. Determining the standard of Knowledge and skills to be
attained by persons seeking to become members of the medical or dental
profession and reviewing those standards from time to time as circumstances may
permit;
b. Securing the establishment and maintenance of registers of
persons entitled to practice as members of the medical or dental profession and
the publication from time to time of lists of those person;
c. Reviewing and preparing from time to time a statement as
to the code of conduct which the Council considers desirable for the practice
of the professions in Nigeria;
The MDCN wishes to say for the umpteenth time that while
universities, through their processes are at liberty to mount academic
programmes including medical and dentistry at undergraduate level, the MDCN
remains the sole authority, by virtue of the provisions of sections
1(2)(a);8(1) & (2);9(1)(2) & (3) and 19(1)(a)&(b) of the Medical
and Dental Practitioners Act cap M8 LFN 2004, empowered to deal with approval
of courses, institutions and qualifications intended for persons seeking to be
registered as members of the medical and dental professions.
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria has discharged this
function successfully using its instruments and capacities from inception.
For the avoidance of doubt, it is only the MDCN that is
empowered by law to register any graduate of medicine or dentistry as the case
maybe, of any institution in Nigeria elsewhere to practice Legally in
Nigeria.
The Council assures itself that the prospective medical
Practitioners or dental Surgeons have undergone courses of training in
instituttions approved by it in accordance with the provisions of the
Guidelines on Minimum Standards form Medical and Dental Education in Nigeria.
In exercise of this statutory function the Council has
striven even in the midst of the decline in quality across board to ensure that
no deviations from the minimum standards are allowed.
Council is unawre of any forum or fora at which any
amendments have been done to the Guideliness on Minimum Standards for Medical
Education in Nigeria. To wit, The Legal authority to make any such amendmentsis
the Medical and Dental Coucil of Nigeria at its Plenary. Whenever such
amendments are made the general public shall be informed.
The general public and all stakeholders including training
instituttions particularly, are invited to take good note.
Signed
Dr. A.A. Ibrahim Dsc, mni
Registrar
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