MDCAN Denies Bribery Report by NBS, Says It’s Attempt to Dent Doctors’ Image

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

The Medical and Dental Consultants  Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) yesterday denied allegation by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that Nigerian doctors take bribe  from patients before treatment.
NBS had reported that 42 per cent of health workers receive bribe to speed up the procedures, while 15 per cent also take bribe to finalise the procedures.
But MDCAN, in a reaction took exception to the report, describing the NBS data as false and a mischievous attempt to denigrate, dent the image and reputation of members of the profession.

In a statement signed by the President of MDCAN, Prof. Aminu Mohammed, the association dismissed the allegation as lacking in merit, adding that even though  Nigerian doctors are  among the least paid in the world, they are hard working and will not condescend so low to demand for bribe from patients  before treatment.

He argued that the report was done in a bad taste because doctors  are not the only workers that work in health institutions, either  public or private.
Mohammed said: “To us, this unfounded  allegation  is baseless and totally unacceptable. We are demanding a total retraction of the so called report which is meant to portray Nigerian doctors in bad light.”

He challenged NBS to avail them access to the methodology and the geographical area they covered to warrant the conclusion, warning that the allegation was grossly unfair to Nigerian doctors despite the hard work and resilient by the doctors to remain in the country to practice.
Although MDCAN agreed that their are bad eggs in every profession, it said it was wrong to generalise, especially as some doctors have shunned greener pastures abroad to stay back to serve in the country.

Mohammed said that if there are people that are demanding and taking bribes from patients and their relatives in health facilities in the country, such group must be identified and punished by relevant authorities.
He added: “All what we are doing in the country is sacrifice. It is not that we cannot move out for greener pasture, but we decided to be patriotic and remained in the country despite so many challenges. We are the one that shoulder the responsibilities of the doctors that have left the country. To wake up one day and label us as corrupt and bribe takers is discouraging.

“As a law abiding citizens, we  want to give NBS the benefit of the doubt by asking it to avail us their methodology and raw data. If we discover that their methodology is right and  have significant samples and proportion of Nigeria covered that allowed them to arrive at this  conclusion, we can now look inward to see how we can make amends.
“If on the other hand, the methodology and sample size are not enough to make this far-reaching conclusion, we will seek for retraction of the report and demand for apology in both  print and electronic media.”