The International Medical Community

The Nigerian final year medical student community from Ukraine, is hereby saying NO to injustice and an act of total hatred to foreign trained doctors by the leadership of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) .

The council just released a public notification that they will NOT allow medical graduates of 2022 sets from Ukraine to sIt for the council exams until the war is over and normal classes resume.

Many countries in the world offer the much needed support to their citizens to enter the profession of their choice. In Nigeria, the opposite is the case and it is unacceptable. We did not cause the war and should not be punished for it. Besides, the war started 3 months ago and for the past 6 years we have been having our classes and clinical rotations (with the exception of when COVID-19 first set in).

We are asking to be given the chance to prove that we have truly been trained and educated just like everyone else. Denying us the right to take this exam just because we took some classes on differential diagnosis online, would not only have a devastating impact on we, the students, but will also have adverse effects on the health sector which is currently short-staffed.

It would be a gross injustice to us that despite being traumatised, surviving a war and completing our medical education, our own country's board is denying us the dream we have poured so much blood and sweat into. It would also be unfair to our parents and sponsors that have spent millions of Naira to ensure that our dream of being doctors becomes a reality.

Winning this petition would mean that we would be allowed to take the license exams in our home country, Nigeria, and forge ahead with our career.

We are calling on the general public, the House of Representatives, the Senate and our President Mohammed Buhari, to ensure that our rights to take this exam is not disenfranchised.