The British General Medical Council has barred medical graduates of nine Nigerian universities from practising in the United Kingdom.
The GMC, an independent body of regulators which registers medical doctors to practise in the UK, in a directory released on Wednesday, blacklisted medical graduates that completed their courses after December 2010 from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; University of Benin, Edo State; University of Jos; University of Nigeria, and the University of Port Harcourt from practising in the UK.
Others affected are medical graduates from Ambrose Ali University, Ebonyi State University, Igbinedion University College of Health Sciences and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology.
The directory stated that although their medical schools were currently listed in the Avicenna Directory of Medical Schools, a developing public database of worldwide Medical Schools and other health profession, the GMC would not be registering or issuing a licence to practise to graduates who hold primary medical qualifications obtained from these Nigerian universities.
It also noted that medical graduates from these schools would be not permitted to make a booking for or to take the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test, an examination that enables non-UK medical graduates to practise in the country.
A Nigerian blog quoted an official of the GMC's press office, Jason Day, as saying that the schools were delisted because they had failed to meet the required standards for practice in the UK.
He added that the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria had earlier advised some universities to suspend accreditation of some medical schools in the country.
“The decision only applies to students who graduated from those medical schools after the MDCN suspended their accreditation,” it quoted Jay as saying.
The body also listed schools in 16 countries whose medical graduates would undergo rigorous procedures to practise in the UK.
The GMC stated, “All international medical graduates must possess an acceptable primary medical qualification to apply for registration with a licence to practise. In addition, international medical graduates will be required to demonstrate their medical knowledge and skills, knowledge of English, and fitness to practise before they are registered with a licence to practice.”
However, 13 other medical schools are still approved on the Avicenna Directory including the Abia State University College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Uturu; Ahmadu Bello University Faculty of Medicine, Zaria; Dan Fodio University College of Health Sciences, Sokoto; Enugu State University of Science and Technology. College of Medicine, Enugu.
Others are Imo State University College of Medicine, Owerri; Lagos State University College Of Medicine, Ikeja; Nnamdi Azikiwe University College of Health Sciences, Nnewi; Obafemi Awolowo University College of Health Sciences, Ile-Ife; Olabisi Onabanjo University; Obafemi Awolowo College of Health Sciences, Sagamu; University of Calabar.
College of Medical Sciences, Calabar; University of Ibadan, College of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan; University of Ilorin Faculty of Health Sciences, Ilorin; University of Lagos College of Medicine, Lagos; and the University of Maiduguri College of Medical Sciences, Maiduguri.
