FEC proposes bill to enable National Medical College issue PhDs, says fellowship not equivalent to PhD

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved amendments that will enable the National Medical College of Nigeria to award doctorate degrees.

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The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, said the education ministry has worked with the Attorney General of the Federation to propose amendments to the National Postgraduate Medical College Act before forwarding it to the National Assembly for passage.

Mr Alausa disclosed this on Wednesday after the FEC meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu.

The minister has also clarified that the proposal was not to make medical fellowships an equivalent of PhDs.

In a Thursday statement by the spokesperson for the education ministry, Folasade Boriowo, the minister explained that the proposed bill intends to empower the medical college to seek accreditation from the National Universities Commission (NUC) to award PhDs in relevant medical and research disciplines.

The minister emphasised that a PhD would not replace or be considered equivalent to a medical fellowship.

“Mr Alausa clarified that medical fellowship remains a distinct professional qualification in clinical practice, awarded to physicians who complete rigorous residency training and postgraduate medical education required for specialist practice,” the statement said.

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“The reform simply expands the College’s academic mandate. Alongside awarding fellowships, the institution may now offer PhD programmes upon accreditation by the National Universities Commission.”

Proposed amendment

Mr Alausa acknowledged that medical professionals in the universities face a struggle to become a professor or vice-chancellor of a university when they do not possess a PhD.

“There’s been some problems in our universities that, for you to be a vice chancellor, for you to be a professor, you need to have a PhD. So this set of people in the medical field has spent more than the years than the average candidate spent getting a PhD. So we need to harmonise that,” he said.

“We need to remove the dichotomy of doctors, who spent almost 16 years from medical school, and their residency, and doing their fellowship, becoming specialised.”

The PhD/Medical Fellowships Row

Medical professionals have long argued that post-doctoral medical fellowships should be equivalent to a PhD in the academic environment.

They argued that the content of a medical fellowship from the National Medical College of Nigeria (NMCN), West African Postgraduate Medical College (WAPMC) or other recognised foreign postgraduate medical colleges was already over-represented in depth and research.

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The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) and NUC, which regulates university education, resolved in 2020 that a PhD is not a compulsory qualification requirement for the career progression of clinical consultants.

According to the agreement, the non- possession of a PhD will not hinder clinical lecturers from being promoted from one rank to another up to the level of Professor in the Nigerian University system.

However, MDCAN still alleges discrimination against medical professionals with medical fellowships and without a PhD, especially during the recruitment of university vice-chancellors, which usually requires a PhD.