Medical colleges, doctors
Row rumbles for
Fresh row could hit medical colleges after an appeal that the regulators of medical colleges withdraw accreditation from medical schools where first-degree holders teaching in basic medical sciences are not designated as “lecturer ll”.
The designation is an “age-long regulation,” according to Dr Francis Faduyile, president of the Nigerian Medical Association.
The association issued the call based on a resolution of its executive committee which met in Uyo last week.
It implored the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, which regulates the practice of medicine and dentistry to “immediately initiate the process to withdraw accreditation” to schools where MBBS holders in academia are not properly placed.
The association also wants the medical regulator to ensuring that during regulation, all medical teachers are “paid the appropriate medical allowances and other remunerations”.
It is uncertain how MDCN, which regulates medicine and accredits university medical colleges, will take up the request with the National Universities Commission, which regulates universities themselves.
But it follows a trend of distorted welfare for doctors around the country, which the association has described as disappointing.
The association is Lagos and Abia are looking to ensure rights of doctors in both states are not trampled, after complained of failure to pay.
Lagos University Teaching Hospital has failed to pay its doctors for more than four months, and Abia state failed to pay health worker salaries for eight months, according to the association. It also says doctors at Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia are being converted to “casual” staff.