Ukraine War: Aggrieved Students With Ukrainian Medical, Dental Certificates Mobilise For Mass Protests Over Rejection Of Credentials By Nigerian Government

Aggrieved foreign medical students from Ukraine have vowed to stage protests at the National Assembly Complex and the headquarters of the Medical and Dentistry Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Abuja over the discrimination and rejection of their medical and dentistry degree certificates obtained from Ukrainian universities.

 

The students also said they had concluded arrangements to file a petition before the British Parliament and United States Congress, calling for the sanction of the leadership of MDCN.

The affected students disclosed this in exclusive interviews with SaharaReporters at the weekend.

 

The students described as absurd, ridiculous and demeaning the action and statements credited to MDCN in which it referred to the affected Nigerian medical students with Ukrainian certificates as “half-baked doctors”.

The group under the auspices of the Nigerian Ukraine Parents and Students Forum described the recommendation by the council for the graduating Ukrainian medical students to enrol for at least six months of remediation programme before they can take pre-registration examination as victimisation and an attempt to truncate their academic careers.

The council had also asked the students currently studying medicine or dentistry in Ukrainian medical schools to seek transfer to accredited medical schools in other countries for the completion of their programmes.

The aggrieved students said they should be given the chance to prove that they were trained and educated just like everyone else, adding that denying them the right to take the examination on the ground that they took some classes on differential diagnosis online, would have a devastating impact and adverse effects on the health sector which is currently short-staffed.

 

According to a medical practitioner, Dr. Muhammad Okaba, academic activities in Ukrainian medical schools were offline. He said the only time classes were conducted online was during the COVID-19 pandemic when the Ukrainian government initiated having online classes.

 

Okaba said that online classes were also held when the war was declared on Ukraine in February 2022.

 

While reacting to the claim by the regulatory body that the students were using mannequins for practical work, Okaba explained that medical students from 200 level to 600 level were given unfettered access to live patients in the clinic.

He said, “All over the world there are some medical procedures that cannot be conducted on the human body. For example, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is a procedure globally you can’t teach students with a live patient.

“Aside from that, every other procedure we did it on the patients and we have all the videos and pictures of Nigerian students in Ukraine conducting experiments on live patients.

“We have the Ukrainian Ambassador who is willing to appear on live television and tell the whole world how the system of education works in Ukraine, specifically medical education.

“So, the claim by the MDCN registrar is a lie and there is no iota of truth in it.  It is meant to mislead Nigerians.”

He also faulted the Council for preventing medical graduating students from participating in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) unless they have a medical degree.

 

He slammed the regulatory council for not taking into consideration whether the students have the financial capability to pay for the licence or if they want to practise medicine.

 

Another Doctor of Medicine, Dr. Abugu Nnadozie Levinus, said the Nigerian government should allow finalyear students who had two or three months left before they were evacuated because of the ongoing Russian Vs Ukraine war should be allowed to complete their studies in Nigerian universities.

 

He said, “Someone who is heading a regulatory body who is supposed to unite the people has now become a point of reference of division.

“Those that have completed their years of studies who are in 400 or 500 levels can go to other university and complete their studies; nobody has a problem with that. But we are talking about is that those who have completed their studies and just have two to three months left should be allowed to complete their programmes in the country.”

Mrs. Bolanle Alowonle Labake, who is a parent, expressed her displeasure with the Nigerian government and MDCN for the “disdain treatment meted out to the final-year medical students from Ukraine”.

 

She called on the Nigerian government through the ministry of foreign affairs to swing into action and relocate the students to neighbouring European countries to enable them complete their education.

 

She made reference to the Ghanaian government which awarded scholarships to their returning students to complete their studies in Europe.

 

“We are appealing to the Nigerian government to help our children to relocate to neighbouring countries in Europe.  Let them continue their education there. If they cannot sponsor them, why are they coming out now to jeopardise our efforts,” Labake added.

One of the affected graduating students Fariha Hafiz Miko described the situation as ridiculous and uncalled for, just as she appealed to the relevant government authorities to review its position and honour their certificates.

 

“They are saying they will not honour the 2022 certificates of medical students from Ukraine because we finished online which is very ridiculous because many others have graduated and perfectly working in the Nigerian system before now.

 

“So, we see this as injustice especially considering the fact that we are a product of war.

 

“So many countries have taken their students, integrating them into the system and they were given all the care and support but this is what MDCN is doing to us,” Fariha said.

 

They called on the Nigerian government to set up a different body to conduct license examinations, adding that MDCN should focus on its statutory mandate of regulating medical practice, issuing and renewal of medical licences and not be the one to conduct medical licence examinations.

 

The students also asked the council to post on their website their curriculum, a clear syllabus, the exam marking scheme, the exam cut-off point and each exam component the pass mark should be known to all students. And after the exam, each candidate’s result should be fully published and let everyone knows why they pass and why they failed.

According to them, “a resit should also be organised after each exam the same way nursing students and pharmacy students get resit after their medical council exam”.

 “Many people are tired of writing the exam because the council deliberately failed people year-in, year-out just to get more customers each year so people are tired of the exam and don’t even have money anymore to pay for the exam.

 

“People have right to NYSC with or without a medical licence. No law of Nigeria says you must practise what you study and no law in NYSC Act says a medical graduate must have a licence before he or she can be mobilised.

 

“Not everyone wants to work in a hospital. We should be allowed to go for NYSC and during mobilization, NYSC should post those without licences to primary or secondary schools and those with licenses should be posted to hospitals but to say you can’t go to NYSC without licences; that’s a clear case of human rights violations,” they noted.

 

But despite the intervention and directive by the National Assembly on the matter, the regulatory body has refused to yield to the demands of the students which has now compelled them to draw a battle line with the Council.

 

The House of Representatives a few weeks ago called on the Medical and Dentistry Council of Nigeria to allow the returning students from Ukraine over the war between the Eastern European country and Russia to complete their studies in Nigerian universities.

 

The House particularly called on the Council to “allow students in the 6th and final year of their programmes, who have completed their final exams, to register for the MDCN in Nigeria and allow them to prove themselves”.

 

The House also urged the MDCN to allow students in the 5th year of their medical programmes in Ukraine to be absorbed into medical schools in Nigerian universities to complete their 6th year.

 

The lawmakers also directed the Nigerian government, through relevant ministries, departments and agencies, to discuss with Ukrainian authorities how to facilitate the release of the transcripts of years of school completed by Nigerian students willing to transfer to medical schools in Nigeria or other nations.

 

MDCN, a body that regulates the medical profession in Nigeria, had through a statement on its Twitter handle declared that medical and dentistry degree certificates obtained from Ukrainian universities from 2020 by Nigerians would not be honoured by the Council until when normal academic activities resume.

 

According to him, the MDCN in the same statement resolved not to recognise any online medical training, no matter how short, received by Nigerian youths in Ukraine and any part of the world.

 

He said some of the students have completed or are still on the mandatory clinic attachment which commenced in April 2022.

 

But contrary to the impression created by MDCN, the vast majority of the students in Years 3 to 6 only did online study/training for a few months in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic which spread all over the world, and in the past three months as a result of the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.

 

The fear among thousands of Nigerian youths studying Medicine and related courses in Ukrainian universities who, by the MDCN regulation, would not only be affected but their academic pursuits are also threatened.

 

The affected students are at serious risk of not only losing these years of rigorous training but huge financial losses that their parents have invested.

 

The students were of the opinion that the policy intends to truncate and undermine their academic dreams and professional ambitions.

 

Other participants who also shared their experiences during the interview include Fariha Hafiz Miko, Khadija Usman Adamu, Dr Fabunmi, and Dr. Mathew.