WHY I LOST CONFIDENCE IN THE MDCN.
I knew little of Dr Kuku as a medical student....
But I knew much about Matron Jones and Matron Ogunro....as they were bastions of discipline....or so we thought.
Matron Jones held sway as the Chief Matron of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) while Matron Ogunro headed the nursing staff in the Modular theatre. While we had no direct contact with Matron Jones, we just had to grapple with her colleague if we must survive the theatre! I have not found her wanting ever since....
Having lived out my teen years at Abiona Close off Falolu Street in Surulere, Lagos....having watched medical students with envy as they trooped in and out of their buses and temporary hostels on Bishop Crowther Street....and having admired Eko Hospital on the same street from a distance, my resolve to read medicine never lost steam!
I had cause to keep some newspaper cuttings....no!....pages! It was in the year 1990. Reason? Medical adverts.... generally frowned at by medical boards all over the globe!
The hospital I used to admire as a kid was moving shop to bigger premises....a multi-storey affair on Mobolaji Bank-Anthony way in Ikeja, Lagos. The advert in the Daily Times was elaborate....too elaborate! It dwelt on facilities in the new hospital. It also dwelt....albeit lousily...on the academic "exploits" of Matron Jones, their Chief Matron as well as the three principal partners....Drs Eneli, Kuku and Obiora! It dwelt on "distinctions" obtained during medical school days and other academic "exploits"!
So, I wondered, was the Medical And Dental Council Of Nigeria (MDCN) then staffed with blind people? Newspapers were popular those days.....and the readership of The Daily Times huge!
I complained to many colleagues who cautioned me not to report this mess "as some people are so connected as to be placed above the law"! I have kept that copy of The Daily Times ever since.
My spirit was further depleted when Eko Hospital opened its Abuja Outlet and the entire mess was fully repeated...this time in The Guardian Newspapers!
I decided to fly a kite though. I petitioned the MDCN against Dr Shankar Mereddy Ready, an Indian doctor for employing quacks at Noah Hospital, Ikorodu in 1994 and nothing was done about it! So I took the cue that nothing would be done if I made reports about some people who were "more powerful"!
I knew unscrupulous doctors may advertise their services.....but definitely not skills and academic "exploits"! And lesser-connected doctors have been visited with severe sanctions by the some body for lesser infractions!
Advertisement especially of that lousy cadre, confers undue and unfair advantages on the advertiser over his peers!
Nigeria is a nation of impunity. Some persons place themselves above the law....and trample on the rights of others....rest assured that their connections with helmsman of institutions would see them through...
The "rotten heads" of such statutory bodies are no less culpable than the felons they protect!
Dr Tosin Akindele is a medical practitioner and public affairs analyst.