A group known as the Concerned Parents of Ukraine Medical Graduates of 2022 has kicked against the allegation of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) that some of the graduates from the Eastern European country were not qualified to practice the profession.
It comes as the Federal Government has ordered Vice-Chancellors of universities to re-open schools for students to resume lectures.
This is contained in a letter signed by the Director, Finance and Accounts of National Universities Commission (NUC), Mr Sam Onazi, on behalf of the Executive Secretary of the commission, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, in Abuja on Monday.
Addressed to all vice-chancellors, pro-Chancellors and chairmen of governing councils of federal universities, it reads,“Ensure that ASUU members immediately resume/commence lectures; restore the daily activities and routines of the various University campuses”.
Another statement jointly signed by Hon. Akeem Tajudeen and Barr. Kelechi Obi, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the group, respectively insisted that their wards were qualified to practice the profession in which they were issued certificates and enjoined members of the public to disregard the MDCN’s statement.
The group also debunked the claim by Dr Tajudeen Sanusi, the Registrar, MDCN that students without science background were usually admitted and graduated with Medical and Dental (MD) Degree in Ukraine, while those with science backgrounds had very weak scores.
The MDCN had in June this year in its advertorial in a national daily alleged that Medical and Dental Degree Certificates issued by medical schools in Ukraine from 2022 would not be honoured by the council.
Sanusi had purported that in 2017, a former Provost of a College of Medicine in Nigeria and a member of the board of examiners identified six of his former students that were withdrawn from the medical programme in Nigeria and who went abroad and were granted MD Degrees when their colleagues that did not fail in Nigeria were still in final year in the medical school.
The group challenged the Sanusi to name the provost and also confirm whether the former students eventually passed the examination in 2017 or thereafter as claimed.
Sanusi further alleged that some with five distinctions in secondary schools in Nigeria may not be able to get admission into the medical programme, but queried his assertion.
The group added: “In all honesty, can the registrar vouch that all those who obtained distinctions were able to justify such in post-UTME and their subsequent performance while in medical schools?
“Thank God that the registrar is a medical doctor hence, can he tell the whole world if all those who were admitted with distinctions in his set were better than him? The answer to these questions would certainly support his claim. Otherwise; it is an unfair submission.”
The group also kicked against the allegation by the MDCN that the Ukrainian Government was fraudulent in its medical programme, stressing that the Ukrainian embassy in Nigeria had vowed to take up this with appropriate authority.
The group further debunked the claim of the registrar that Ukrainian medical graduates formed the bulk of those who failed medical tests in Nigeria after graduation, marinating that in the November 2020 and June 2021 MDCN assessment examinations, Ukraine graduates recorded over 70 per cent pass in each of the two examinations.
The parents challenged the MDCN to crosscheck its record and publish the names of students who participated in the two examinations and their performances.
The group insisted medical schools in Ukraine are listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools, which MDCN had been using to verify medical degree certificates through Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials for those who wish to write its assessment examination.
The concerned parents noted that Sanusi’s derogatory statement on Ukraine certificates at this time was giving parents and the students psychological trauma, stressing that graduated students from Ukraine in other African countries and India had the same certificate recognised by those countries.
The parents added: “The registrar should realise that the 2022 graduates from Ukraine studied for six years in which they studied five years and 10 months offline before the war. So, the remaining two months before the war that they did exam online should not be what made them online doctors.”