Medical council sanctions 50 doctors, delists two

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria has in the past 10 years sanctioned 50 practitioners over diverse professional misconduct. The Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of MDCN, Dr. Abdulmumini Ibrahim, said this in an interview with SATURDAY PUNCH. Speaking against the backdrop of the recent jailing of a United State-based medical doctor for his role in the death of the late pop star, Michael Jackson, he said, "I can tell you that in the past 10 years, specifically from year 2,000 till date, close to 50 doctors were sanctioned."He said that only two of the cases eventually led to a total withdrawal of the victims practising licences. Ibrahim, who has been on the board of the council for a decade, said that out of the total of 100 cases brought before the council within the period under review, about half of the number were sanctioned according to the magnitude of their offences."I can recall that two out of this number I am giving you were erased completely from the register. This year alone, we have concluded close to 10 cases while four doctors were sanctioned. At the last sitting of the tribunal in September, judgments were given against three doctors. "Two of them came as a joint case but during the trial, the cases were separated. So, one of them was given a three-month suspension, while the other one was suspended for six months. Yet, another person, Dr. De Souza, was delisted," he explained.He said that since the practice certificates were renewed by the council yearly, a medical doctor who had been ordered not to practise for three or six months would have his certificate withdrawn. He said in most cases, the council authorised the commissioner for health in that state to take custody of the certificate until he, the affected practitioner, served out his penalty.Asked how the council monitors compliance with judgments, he said the MDCN had been monitoring the committees that were saddled with that duty in all the states of the federation. He said the committees worked in collaboration with law enforcement agencies to enforce the councils decisions. He said, "We write to the Inspector-General of Police, informing him of the sanction against a particular doctor, giving him all the necessary documents including a copy of the judgment at the tribunal. "We also write to the state commissioners of police, commissioners of health, where the doctor resides, the director of medical services in the state where the doctor is based."The directors of medical services in the states are the chairmen of the monitoring committees that I earlier mentioned."
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