The Medical and Dental Consultant’s Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has called on critical players in the health sector to convene immediately to debate and develop comprehensive, all-encompassing strategies to solve the numerous issues affecting the healthcare industry and impeding the nation’s ability to provide the best possible healthcare.
In a communiqué issued at the end of its meeting in Kwara State, signed by its president, Professor Mohammad Aminu Mohammad, and National Secretary, Professor Daiyabu Alhaji Ibrahim, MDCAN, said that as a matter of urgency, the Federal government should put all necessary processes in motion to motivate the healthcare workers to stay in the country to curtail the mass exodus to other countries.
They expressed concerns about Nigeria’s one doctor for every 2,500 individuals causing burnouts and closure of some services in hospitals, slow implementation of decisions and resolutions (MOU) between MDCAN and the FG on the association’s demands, shortfall in the remuneration/income loss by Clinical Lecturers (Honorary Consultants) and circularize the retirement age for hospital consultants to 70 years.
They declared that insecurity targeting doctors and other healthcare workers, the recurrent discrimination by some Nigerian Universities, against medical fellowship holders, preventing them from reaching the peak of their career and the incessant and increasing workplace violence against doctors and other healthcare workers by most especially patient’s relations were worrisome.
They enjoined the Federal government to urgently intensify efforts to resolve the economic and security challenges facing the country, to ensure sustained progress and development as well as put necessary processes in place to motivate the healthcare workers to stay in the country, thereby curtailing the mass exodus to other countries.
According to them, the implementation of the approved 50percent reduction in energy bills for health and educational Institutions by the Federal government should also be implemented by State governments across state public health and educational institutions to guarantee continuous service delivery and training.
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Additionally, the communiqué urged vice-chancellors, particularly those in the South Western Zonespecifically the University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University, and the University of Ilorinto implement the payment of clinical lecturers with CONMESS, as is being done in other regions of Nigeria, without further delay.
MDCAN condemned the ongoing discrimination by some Nigerian universities against medical fellowship holders, which prevents them from reaching the peak of their careers on the grounds of not possessing a PhD degree.
The association emphasized that medical and dental fellowships are sufficient as both academic and professional qualifications for medical training and career advancement.
Furthermore, MDCAN appealed to the federal government to urgently halt and reverse the proliferation of non-medical consultants in national hospitals, stressing that such practices jeopardise patient safety, compromise proper patient management, and create unnecessary controversies in patient care.