439 foreign-trained doctors failed assessment exam – MDCN

A total of 439 foreign-trained medical and dental graduates failed the assessment examination conducted by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, The PUNCH has learnt.

The two-day assessment examination was conducted on November 23 and November 24, 2022, at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto.

The council’s Registrar, Dr Tijani Sanusi, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with our correspondent on Sunday.

Sanusi said 916 foreign-trained medical and dental candidates sat for the assessment examination but only 477 candidates passed.

“24 candidates sat for the examination in Dentistry, eight passed and 16 failed. 892 candidates sat for the medical examination, 469 passed and 423 failed,” he explained.

Describing the assessment examination as a global practice, Sanusi said no professional is allowed to practise in another jurisdiction without sitting for the examination.

He explained, “It is a global practice that if you train in a particular jurisdiction and you want to go to another jurisdiction, you subject yourself to an assessment examination.

“Even if you are a Professor of Medicine here and you have never practised in the United Kingdom or the United States, when you go in there, you subject yourself to their assessment examination.”

The PUNCH reports that the MDCN assessment examination is compulsory for all foreign-trained doctors who plan to practise in Nigeria.

The MDCN regulates the practice of Medicine, Dentistry and Alternative Medicine in the country in the most efficient manner that safeguards the best healthcare delivery.

The assessment examination is meant for foreign-trained medical doctors and dental surgeons who want to practise in Nigeria and it tests the candidates’ ability to apply their basic medical sciences and clinical skills in a healthcare setting.

The examination is to ensure that foreign-trained doctors show themselves capable of practising in Nigeria.

On passing the examination, they are given a provisional licence to practise in Nigeria.

It is this provisional licence medical and dental graduates will use to practise during their one-year housemanship after which they are given a licence of full registration.