At least 529 foreign-trained medical and dental graduates from foreign institutions have failed the assessment examination conducted for them by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).
The disclosure was made by the MDCN who regulates the practice of Medicine, Dentistry, and Alternative Medicine in the country to safeguard the nation’s health care system.
The two-day assessment examination was conducted on Wednesday, July 12, and Thursday, July 13, 2023, at the University College Hospital, Ibadan in Oyo State.
The MDCN said 704 medical and 30 dental foreign-trained graduates participated in the assessment examination.
After the assessment examination, only 189 medical graduates and 16 dental graduates passed the examination.
It also revealed that 515 medical graduates and 14 dental graduates failed the examination.
It was gathered that the assessment examination is compulsory for all foreign-trained doctors who plan to practice in Nigeria.
The assessment examination tests the candidates’ ability to apply their basic medical sciences and clinical skills in a health care setting.
Speaking on the result, the MDCN Registrar, Dr. Tajudeen Sanusi, said, “The pass is at 27.4 percent, 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 practiced 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.
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