Bill To Curb Doctors, illegal, Modern-Day Slavery Attempt

The President of the Academy of Medicine Specialties of Nigeria (AMSN) Prof Oladapo Ashiru has condemned the proposed Bill before the House of Representatives to amend the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) Act.

VerseNews Nigeria reported that Hon. Abiodun Ganiyu Johnson has in a bill proposed that fresh medical graduates should be mandated to provide professional services to Nigeria for five years before receiving a full registration and license to practice.

Nigeria medical doctors have angrily opposed the bill and threatened legal action if the bill is not dropped.

Ashiru in comment said that creating a law to address just one group of workers is an exercise in futility adding that the proposed bill is illegal and violates fundamental human rights.

“You cannot make a law that violates fundamental human rights. The law that the Reps are trying to make is illegal, and you cannot make a law to justify illegality. Nigeria cannot say that it is going to create a law to address just one group of workers, it cannot work. There are several issues that have to be considered, if we look at the salaries of all workers in the country, it has been depreciated on a yearly basis by the devaluation of the naira. Government has to ensure that this does not happen,” she said

Ashiru argued that the naira adjustment has devalued the naira, thus making salaries not to be competitive for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, all health workers, and everyone else.

She tasked the Federal Government to focus on how to create enabling environment for doctors to remain in Nigeria.

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Speaking on the same issue, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, (NARD) said the proposed bill as is an attempt at modern-day enslavement

The association described it as “the infuriating attempts by the Federal House of Representatives to enslave Nigerian-trained medical doctors for five years post-graduation before they can be issued full practicing licenses or allowed to travel abroad if they so wished”.

Although the house agreed on the palpable dangers of the current menace of brain drain in the health sector and promised to work with the Government to reverse the trend when the Government is ready to come up with genuine solutions to the problem, the NARD was emphatic that any attempt by the government or any of her agencies to enslave Nigerian medical doctors under any guise would be strongly and vehemently resisted.