The Federal Government (FG) declared on Monday that it opposes the National Assembly bill that would delay granting full licenses to medical or dental professionals who received their training in Nigeria until after they had been employed there for at least five years.
BizWatch Nigeria recalls that the bill passed the House of Representatives’ second reading on April 7, 2023. The bill’s purpose, according to its sponsor, Hon. Ganiyu Johnson (APC/Lagos), is to combat the brain drain in the Nigerian health industry.
However, the Minister of Labour Dr. Chris Ngige stated during a press conference for State House Correspondents in Abuja following the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo that the bill in the National Assembly cannot prevent anyone from obtaining a full license.
The plan was deemed “not workable” by the Labour Minister, who insisted that there are alternative ways to stop the nation’s talent drain.
“Nobody can say they will not get a practising licence till after five years, it will run counter to the laws of the land that has established the progression in the practice of medicine. I am a medical doctor. I don’t support that bill,” he stated.
“When you graduate from medical school you go on a one-year apprenticeship called horsemanship or internship as the case may be. After your internship, you are now given a full licence because prior to that what you have is a provisional licence of registration with the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN.
“So, after that internship, you were signed off by consultants and you became a fully qualified medical doctor to attend to human beings and to work without any supervision again. Supervision then is voluntary.
“Resident Doctors are those who have that full licence and they want to acquire post-graduate speciality and speciality is known like a surgeon, gynaecologists, obstetrics, paediatrics and internal medicine of family medicine. So, they are doctors in training.”
