MDCN Withdraws Doctors Certificates For Misconduct

The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria(MDCN) Dr. Abdulmumini Ibrahim, has disclosed that a total number of 50 doctors in Nigeria have been sanctioned and 2 have been removed from practice due to reasons of professional misconduct in the health sector since the year 2000.

The register stated that over a hundred cases have been presented to the council for review in the past 10 years and treated according to the nature of the offense and only two were erased completely from the register.

This year, he added, there have been close to 10 cases brought to the council of which four doctors were sanctioned and three doctors were found guilty of the offenses.

Dr. Abdulmumini Ibrahim said that when a doctor has been ordered by the council not to practice for six months automatically gets his certificate withdrawn because certificate of practice by medical doctors is renewed yearly. The way it is done is such that the council authorized the commissioner for health in that state to take custody of the certificate until the affected practitioner served out his penalty.

As to the check on ensuring compliance, the registrar disclosed that the council works hand in hand with the law enforcement agencies in the country, the director of medical services in the state where the doctor is based as well as the commissioners for health and of police. For example, the inspector general of police will sanction a doctor found guilty of misconduct with some documents that has all the judgment details. Going against the police is going against the law of the state and it has its own repercussion.