Professor Rasheed Research On Clinical Sciences At NUC Meeting

National Universities Commission (NUC) meeting Professor Rasheed explained why Medical PhD cannot replace Fellowship and a way to encourage research in clinical sciences by professionals.

National Universities Commission (NUC) Executive Secretary, Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, mni, MFR, FNAL, has reiterated that the recently introduced Doctor of Medicine programme (MD by publication) was introduced for an entirely different purpose from the original medicine by fellowship programme and therefore, submitted that one can never replace the other.

At the meeting were the NUC Directors of the Directorate of Establishment of Private Universities (DEPU), Mrs. Constance Goddy-Nnadi; Directorate of the Executive Secretary’s Office (DESO), Mr. John Ahmadu Mairafi, Directorate of Human Resources (DHR), Mr. Boniface Odum; Acting Directors of: Directorate of Research Innovation and Information Technology (DRIIT), Malam Lawal M. Farouk, Directorate of Inspection and Monitoring, Mrs. Lydia T. Imoroa; Directorate of Public Affairs (DPA),  Malam Haruna Lawal Ajo and NUC Visiting  Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe.

Professor Rasheed explained that based on current trends, there must be a way to encourage research in clinical sciences by professionals like medical scientists, pathologists, non-clinical dermatologists, non clinical medical laboratory scientists, biochemists, medical microbiologists and professions that go under the cover of health science to be allowed to make publications from their research capable of bringing about solutions to our revolutionary health issues and he assured the team of NUC’s commitment to strengthening the already existing relationship between them.

Professor Rasheed stressed on the need to have a comprehensive picture of the status of medical education in the country, which, he said, had triggered the urgent need for an inspection visit to medical universities by the Commission, to ascertain their current state. He indicated that all pending medical universities’ committee reports shall be looked at by a committee of medical experts and non-medics while the position on the maters as taken by the Commission would be communicated to the concerned universities.

The President, National Postgraduate Medical College, in his address, thanked the Executive Secretary for granting them audience and commended him for the great innovations he had brought to university education in the country. He said the transition in the education sector was very necessary in order to keep education relevant to its benefactors. He commended the NUC scribe for his support for the introduction of (doctor of Medicine) MD programme, which, he explained, was not equivalent to medical fellowship because the postgraduate medical programme in Nigeria had already been designed to include doctoral training. He explained the doctoral training to mean having the ability to acquire the context of knowledge in addition to vocational training and leadership.

MySchoolNews reporting.