Don’t Abandon Your Fatherland, Minister Advises Doctors

*416 foreign trained doctors take oath

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has advised the young doctors not to be in haste to leave the country to practice abroad, adding it is not all bed of roses out there.

The minister’s injunction came as 416 foreign trained doctors were formally administered with an oath to practice as medical doctors by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).

Speaking at the induction ceremony for the young doctors in Abuja, on Thursday, the minister advised them to always live up to the high expectations of their noble profession.

Alausa who was represented by his Senior Special Adviser, Dr. Ismail Ajatu, urged the young doctors to stay and help in repositioning the health sector and contribute their quota to the nation’s development.

The Registrar of MDCN, Dr. Tajudeen Sanusi, who administered the oath on the doctors said that Nigerian medical practitioners are one of the most sought for outside the shores of Nigeria due to the unblemished standards that the country has maintained over the years.

On the measures being taken to instill discipline in the medical profession, Sanusi said that House Officers who are undergoing mandatory one-year training programme are not expected to join trade unions or participate in any industrial action within the period of their engagement.

He warned the newly inducted House Officers that anyone who embarks on strike or abandons his or her duty post may be required to repeat the programme at no extra cost to the government.

He also disclosed that the government is in the process of reabsorbing Nigerian medical students who were forced to abandon their studies in Ukraine due to the raging war there into local institutions to enable them complete their programme.