The Senate has asked the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to allow Nigerian medical graduates from Ukraine and Sudan, where the war did not affect their academic activities, to sit for MDCN exams in July and November without any discrimination.
It also advised MDCN to, in no distant time, work towards the conduct of the MDCN exams in each geo-political zone of the country like the law schools, to reduce the cost to the students and their parents.
The senate resolutions followed the adoption of a motion at plenary on Tuesday.
The motion titled: “Discrimination Against Medical Graduands from Ukraine by Nigerian Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria was sponsored by Senator Oyewumi Olalere (PDP Osun Central)
Olalere, in his lead debate, said the issue of medical graduates from Ukrainian universities has drawn the attention of the National Assembly since 2022.
He said in 2023, the House of Representatives and the Ministry of Health concluded with the Medical and Dental Council to allow the students that graduated from medical schools in Ukraine to participate in qualifying exams like other students, or at best, organise a makeup programme for them before the exam.
According to him, the MDCN has slated a referral programme for the 2022 graduates alone at the Federal Medical Centre Gwagwalada at the cost of N1.5 million per student to be paid in one and a half weeks.
He said the concerned parents of the affected students had visited the National Assembly complex to lodge their complaints during the vacation of the Senate for an extension of the deadline for payment to one month from one and a half weeks.
Senator Olalere, who is the Senate Deputy Minority Leader, said the war in Ukraine affected the eastern part of Ukraine and KIV, the capital, adding that western Ukraine was not affected.
According to him, the students were on campus doing their programmes unhindered, as confirmed by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Nigeria.
He said since the war in Ukraine did not affect all the universities, especially, students in the western parts of Ukraine, students who graduated from those universities in 2023 should be allowed to sit for MDCN exams henceforth without any hindrance.
Other senators who supported the motion included Adamu Aliero (PDP Kebbi Central), Abdul Ningi (PDP Bauchi Central), among others.
The Senate also urged the Committee of Nigerian Vice Chancellors to allow Nigerian students arriving from war torn countries to be admitted into Nigerian universities to complete their studies.
In his remarks, Senate President Godswill Akpabio thanked the sponsor of the motion, saying that it was a popular motion and eliciting comments from the lawmakers.
He expressed belief that the resolutions of the Senate would be adhered to by MDCN and the Vice Chancellors to ameliorate the sufferings of concerned Nigerian medical graduates from war-affected nations.