Reps ask MDCN to stop outrageous charges imposed on graduates

ABUJA - House of Representatives has called on the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN to stop the unnecessary and outrageous charges imposed on Medical and Dental Graduates before allowing them to undertake their six months mandatory attachment programme.

The call came on the heels of a motion titled “Need to Stop Exorbitant Charges for Mandatory Attachment Programe for Foreign Trained Medical and Dental Graduates”, presented by Hon. Solomon Bulus Maren at the plenary.

Moving the motion, Maren noted that on December 1, 2021, the Leadership Newspaper publicized the details of requirements for the mandatory six-month attachment programme for foreign-trained Medical and Dental/Graduates including the sum of Nine Hundred Thousand Naira (N900,000) and One Million, Four Hundred Thousand Naira (N1,400,000) as charges by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for citizens and foreign graduates respectively.

According to him, the figures exclude accommodation additional charges of two hundred thousand Naira (N200,000) for Dental Graduates, which are all payable to the institution’s account.

“The exorbitant charges imposed on foreign-trained Medical and Dental Graduates are a major requirement before they can be allowed to attend the mandatory six months’ attachment programme which makes them eligible to sit for the MDCN pre-registration examination.

“The foreign-trained graduates are coming from where the profession is not only highly paid for but also sought after, hence, the move may discourage them from coming back to the country to practice.

“The country has only about 4,8000 Medical and Dental Practitioners, which is inadequate and may continue to reduce as a result of such irrational impositions by the governing bodies.

“The efforts by the Federal Government to boost and improve healthcare delivery through human capital development may be jeopardized if such outrageous charges are not removed, as many intending graduates may not be able to enroll into the council, without which they cannot practice.

“If deliberate and proactive steps are not taken to check those atrocious charges, the healthcare system will suffer further lack of professionals, thereby increasing medical tourism out of Nigeria and jeopardizing the Federal Government’s efforts at economic recovery”, he said.

Adopting the motion, the House mandated its Committee on Healthcare Services to investigate the matter and report back within 4 weeks for further legislative action.