The National Executive Council Meeting of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has again appealled to Federal Government to  reconstitute the board of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), saying it is repeating an appeal it made earlier.

The association made the appeal in a statement signed by its President, Dr Francis Faduyile, on Thursday in Abuja.

He recalled that the NMA National Executive Council  at its meeting  held between Aug. 26 and Sept. 1, 2018 in Osogbo, requested Federal Government to reconstitute the MDCN board on or before Sept. 30 in an ultimatum.

He stated that it was six weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari promised to reconstitute the board.

Faduyile noted that at the expiration of the ultimatum on Sept. 30, the association decided to extend it by two weeks in its independence message, to end on Oct. 14.

He noted that “we wish to state that in spite of our communication with Federal Government, the Council that regulates Medical Practice in Nigeria still remains unconstituted.

“The Nigerian Medical Association feels pained that the healthcare delivery of Nigerians is being gambled with.

“The association expresses her displeasure over this development in spite of repeated appeals to reconstitute the MDCN board over three years after its dissolution.

“It is worthy of note that the act setting up MDCN reiterates that the board shall be a corporate body with perpetual succession as clearly stated in the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act Cap M8.”

The NMA president noted that over the years, the association had been alerting the public on the increasing rate of brain drain and medical tourism, coupled with the fact that the health sector was not regulated.

He stated that in view of the foregoing, and following an earlier notice to government to set up the MDCN board on or before Oct. 14, 2018, the NMA might not be able to guarantee calm in the health sector.

Faduyile added that the NMA as custodian of the peoples’ health believed  that a sector that was not well regulated was prone to quackery “and this has debilitating effect on the healthcare of the citizenry.

“The NMA wishes to also call on our political gladiators to endeavour to make health a key agenda in their political manifestoes as a nation’s strength can only improve when the health indices of the nation is improved.”  (NAN)