By: Aduwo Ayodele

A team from the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria on Thursday, 11, 2024 arrived at the University of Ibadan for the reaccreditation of MBBS and BDS programmes of the College of Medicine.

The team, a 22-member group, was led by the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Dr T.A.B Sanusi.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic, Professor Aderonke Baiyeroju, who received the team on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kayode O. Adebowale, noted that the University of Ibadan as an institution does not see re-accreditation exercise, as a witch-hunt but rather “as an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the various programmes.”

Professor Baiyeroju noted that such exercises help the University to improve on its possible weaknesses and to maximize its strengths.

Also, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor said the University needed to train more doctors to meet the national shortage occasioned by the ‘japa’ syndrome, while adding that Nigerians ought to be adequately cared for.

“Nigerians ought to be well looked after and this could only happen when the doctors are well trained.”

In his response, the Registrar of MDCN, Dr Sanusi assured that the reaccreditation exercises were not meant to bring down institutions but to ensure that education achieved its set out aims.

Dr. Sanusi noted that “re-accreditation is a peer review exercise to identify deficiencies and applaud good deeds”, while adding that the MDCN and the University of Ibadan are jointly partners in progress working for the betterment of the Nigerian Society.

He added that doctors are trained to save lives and must be well trained so that lives would not be lost due to negligence.

Dr. Sanusi stated that the Federal Government was desirous of increasing intakes of medical students, especially into three institutions; the University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

The Registrar, without reservation, lamented that the University of Ibadan has had the highest admission quota in the country but has not yet fully utilised this quota.

Dr Sanusi added that the accreditation exercise would help determine the increase in medical students that the University of Ibadan could accommodate given that the University College Hospital is available as a laboratory for the Medical School.

Credit – Directorate of Public Communication