The
National Universities Commission has described as erroneous and misleading the
news making the round that Nigerian medical students will now spend 11 years to
obtain their first degree.
The
NUC’s Head, Information Department, Mrs. Adebukola Olatunji, said in a
statement on Monday that medical students will only spend seven years in
school, rather than 11 years which was widely reported in the news.
Olatunji
said newsmen misrepresented the NUC’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie,
who was quoted to have announced the 11-year training period for medical
students while giving the keynote address at the matriculation and inauguration
of the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, on March 12, 2016.
She
said nowhere in the keynote address, entitled, “Development of Medical
Education in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges,” was 11 years mentioned or
implied.
According
to Olatunji, what Okojie explained was that the NUC’s basic minimum academic
standard for Medicine and Surgery had been reviewed such that anyone wishing to
study Medicine and Surgery and Dentistry will first have to study any of the
four-year basic medical science courses, such as Anatomy, Medical Biochemistry
and Physiology, before proceeding to the clinical training that would run for
three years.
She
said, “Although, the so-called ‘11-year Medical Programme’ stories have been
credited to the Commission’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie’s keynote
address, titled, ‘Development of Medical Education in Nigeria: Prospects and
Challenges’, which was delivered at the Matriculation and Inauguration of the
University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, on Saturday, March 12, 2016, nowhere in
that lecture was 11 years mentioned or implied.
“Prof.
Okojie, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary l, Prof. Chiedu
Mafiana, had explained that the new curriculum provides for a seamless
seven-year programme.
“With
the new curriculum, a medical student would be expected to graduate in Basic
Medical Sciences, with options in Anatomy, Medical Biochemistry and Physiology
in the first four years, before proceeding for the clinical training that would
run for three years.”
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