THE Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria said that the suspension placed on the College of Health Sciences at Igbinedion University, Okada in Edo State stayed because the college was still unable to meet the required standards.

 

The Council is also stepping up the prosecution of 20 fake medical doctors who were involved in quackery and other forms of illegal practice.

 

The Council has also inducted an additional 395 medicinal doctors and dentists.

 

The Registrar Dr. Abdulmumini Ibrahim, who spoke at the induction in Abuja on Tuesday, stressed that the Council had established a new unit to strengthen its monitoring and evaluation system.

 

His words:  “We have a new unit called the Monitoring and Inspectorate Department in the secretariat which is responsible for cracking down on individuals involved in quackery. Currently, we have about 20 cases pending in courts and all have to do with quackery where people parade themselves as doctors.

 

“They were arrested and prosecuted, that is why they are in court. Whether they are on bail or not on bail is another issue. But we have succeeded in arresting them. They were arrested by the state monitoring committees, then the council secretariat was invited as a witness to testify in courts.”

 

Ibrahim disclosed a particular case in Lagos where somebody was parading himself as a doctor adding, “but after investigation, we discovered that he is not a doctor.”

 

According to him, the suspect was actually a medical student some years back even outside the country who couldn’t continue with the training after some years.

 

He said: “But when he came back, he was parading himself as a doctor. There were so many instances in which his competences were questioned and that was how he was reported to us. Then, that same Monitoring and Inspectorate Department swung into action.

 

“Failure of some medical/dental institutions to meet the quality assurance requirements of council resulted in withdrawal or suspension of accreditation. In this regard, the case of the College of Health Sciences at Igbinedion University, Okada in Edo State readily comes to mind.

 

“The accreditation of this institution was suspended for gross violation of council regulations on operation of medical/dental institutions especially in the areas of approved students quota. This institution was further barred from admitting medical students since August 2010. This sanction will remain enforced until all pending cases are resolved.”

 

On other medical colleges that don’t meet standards, he noted: “There are standards and guidelines put in place by the council. But if any of these institutions are found violating any of these guidelines, we will revisit that medical school. If they don’t really address those issues, we will slam suspension before we withdraw accreditation. And currently, Igbinedion University is in that category; their accreditation has been withdrawn and they were given a two years timeline for correction.

 

“If they were able to correct these anomalies within the period of time, then we will reinstate the accreditation. But currently, Igbinedion University should not be admitting students and should not be graduating students. There are students that in their final years, after writing their final exams, they must be subjected to these professional examinations.

 

“In 2011, we suspended about 11 medical schools and they were given time limits to address those issues that have been violated. But nine of them were able to address the issues within the shortest time they were given, except Igbinedion University and University of Benin. But UNIBEN was able to address those issues after a period of time. For now, it is only Igbinedion University that is becoming recalcitrant and it is lingering too much.”