A proposed bill that would have required recent medical school graduates to work for the government for up to five years before becoming fully registered and licensed to practise medicine in Nigeria has been rejected by the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria.
According to Daily Trust, in a statement released on Saturday by the association’s president, Dr. Victor Makanjuola, and secretary-general, Dr. Yemi R. Raji, it was stated that the bill proposed by the House of Representatives was discriminatory and not in the best interest of the people.
PUNCH METRO reported that the bill which was sponsored by a lawmaker Hon. Ganiyu Johnson, was passed through second reading on Friday.
Reacting to the bill, MDCAN, said that while Abiodun Ganiyu Johnson’s zeal and care for Nigerians’ health in introducing the law as a solution to the physician brain drain is commendable, the bill was “misdirected, ill-informed, and poorly thought through.”
The group claimed that the measure might have the exact opposite impact, escalating the exodus, and that it has been collaborating with the executive branch of government to prevent this from happening.
It stated, “It is pertinent to state that none of the suggestions of the inter-ministerial committee on brain drain and bonding of health workers has been implemented till date.”
