From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has declared that the country is in serious need of more medical doctors owing to the increasing rate of population of Nigerians and others living in the country.
The Registrar of the council, Dr Victor Gbenro who spoke at the third induction ceremony of the medical and dental graduating students of the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, on Thursday, said the population of the country demands more hands in the medical profession.
Gbenro, who was represented by the Deputy Registrar and Head of the Department of Planning, Research and Statistics of the MDCN, Dr Tijjani Mandaka, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) has affirmed that the number of medical doctors practising in the country was not enough for the growing population of the country.
He therefore charged students to develop an interest in medicine for the country to meet up with the WHO standards in the country.
“We are in need of more medical doctors in the country today. We are far from what the World Health Organisation demands because our population in Nigeria keeps increasing and there is a need to meet up with the standard. Therefore, it is important for the young ones to develop interest in medicine,” he said
Inducting the new set of graduating medical and dental students, the MDCN boss charged them to treat human lives with absolute fear of God and in line with medical ethics, threatening that their licences could be withdrawn if they fail to live up to the oath they took publicly.
In his lecture delivered at the ceremony, the Guild of Medical Directors, Dr Abiodun Raymond Kuti, warned the new medical doctors against unethical practices in the discharge of their duties.
Kuti who spoke on “Be yourself: The real, not the ideal,” charged the new doctors to contribute meaningfully to society through their chosen profession.
He enjoined the new doctors to be their real selves and not to pretend to be who they’re not, adding that society expects more from them and they cannot afford to fail society.