The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria reported that 529 medical and dental graduates trained abroad did not pass the assessment examination. The examination body made this known on Sunday.
The assessment examination took place over two days, specifically on Wednesday, July 12, and Thursday, July 13, 2023, at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, located in Oyo State.
The MDCN said 704 medical and 30 dental foreign-trained graduates participated in the assessment examination.
According to the council’s announcement, out of the total number of candidates who took the assessment examination, only 189 medical graduates and 16 dental graduates were able to successfully pass the examination.
It also revealed that 515 medical graduates and 14 dental graduates failed the examination.
The MDCN regulates the practice of Medicine, Dentistry, and Alternative Medicine in the country to safeguard the nation’s health care system.
The assessment examination is designed to evaluate the candidates’ proficiency in applying their fundamental medical sciences knowledge and clinical skills within a healthcare environment.
Commenting on the result, the MDCN Registrar, Dr Tajudeen Sanusi, said,
“The pass is at 27.4 per cent, which is poor. However, the assessment exam is necessary because we cannot put the health of Nigerians in jeopardy; it is better we have a few doctors than have doctors that will put the health of Nigerians in danger. All hands must be on deck to put this country in the right place.”
According to him, the assessment examination is a required global practice.
“It’s a global practice that if you train in a particular jurisdiction and, you want to go to another jurisdiction, you subject yourself to an assessment exam. Even if you are a professor of medicine here and you’ve never practised in the United Kingdom or the United States, when you go there, you subject yourself to their assessment exam. So, it’s a global practice,” he said.
