₦airaland Forum

Another day in Nigeria, another problem

Bro I categorically tell you the decision making is biased already, if a doctors commits an offence they constitute a disciplinary panel or a committee head by a doctor always head by a doctor they sweep it under the carpet... but lol let a nurse or any other health professional commits same they will have ur head

Betanaija42moro:
This should be discouraged, here are the key dangers and disadvantages of placing all healthcare professions under the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria:

Loss of professional autonomy – Other health professions may lose control over their own training, licensing, and disciplinary processes.

Dominance of doctors – Decision-making may be biased in favor of medical doctors since the council is doctor-centered.

One-size-fits-all regulation – Different professions may be forced to follow rules that don’t suit their unique roles.

Weakening of specialized standards – Profession-specific expertise in regulation may be reduced, affecting quality.

Bureaucratic overload – A single council may become overwhelmed, leading to delays in licensing and administration.

Reduced checks and balances – Centralizing power in one body can reduce accountability and increase risk of abuse.

Low morale among health workers – Other professionals may feel undervalued and sidelined.

Increased strikes and protests – Dissatisfaction could lead to more industrial actions in the health sector.

Brain drain risk – More health professionals may leave Nigeria due to frustration and poor professional recognition.

Inter-professional conflict – Rivalry between doctors and other health workers may worsen.

Reduced teamwork in healthcare – Collaboration may decline if one profession is seen as superior.

Poor representation of other professions – Non-medical professionals may not have adequate voice in decisions affecting them.

Conflict with global best practices – Most countries maintain separate councils, so this model may be seen as outdated.

Threat to career growth of other professions – Advancement opportunities may be limited if controlled by another profession.

Potential decline in quality of care – Poor regulation and collaboration can negatively affect patient outcomes.

ColdHunter:
Doctors want to ensure they dominate every department in the health sector.

What I even want health practitioners to protest is that nonsense policy that only medical doctors can be MDs. What in the hell is that? Isn't the position of an MD a strictly administrative position? If a doctor can be MD or CMD, why can't a nurse or a pharmacist?

That is why today especially in FTHs, you find Doctors as head of units like Servicom and Social Welfare.

In other words anybody can be VC in the universities, since VC too is adminstrative position.

ColdHunter:
Doctors want to ensure they dominate every department in the health sector.

What I even want health practitioners to protest is that nonsense policy that only medical doctors can be MDs. What in the hell is that? Isn't the position of an MD a strictly administrative position? If a doctor can be MD or CMD, why can't a nurse or a pharmacist?

That is why today especially in FTHs, you find Doctors as head of units like Servicom and Social Welfare.

Those protesting will still want their children to be doctors

Let them focus the energy on their respective duties on patients

Betanaija42moro:
This should be discouraged, here are the key dangers and disadvantages of placing all healthcare professions under the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria:

Loss of professional autonomy – Other health professions may lose control over their own training, licensing, and disciplinary processes.

Dominance of doctors – Decision-making may be biased in favor of medical doctors since the council is doctor-centered.

One-size-fits-all regulation – Different professions may be forced to follow rules that don’t suit their unique roles.

Weakening of specialized standards – Profession-specific expertise in regulation may be reduced, affecting quality.

Bureaucratic overload – A single council may become overwhelmed, leading to delays in licensing and administration.

Reduced checks and balances – Centralizing power in one body can reduce accountability and increase risk of abuse.

Low morale among health workers – Other professionals may feel undervalued and sidelined.

Increased strikes and protests – Dissatisfaction could lead to more industrial actions in the health sector.

Brain drain risk – More health professionals may leave Nigeria due to frustration and poor professional recognition.

Inter-professional conflict – Rivalry between doctors and other health workers may worsen.

Reduced teamwork in healthcare – Collaboration may decline if one profession is seen as superior.

Poor representation of other professions – Non-medical professionals may not have adequate voice in decisions affecting them.

Conflict with global best practices – Most countries maintain separate councils, so this model may be seen as outdated.

Threat to career growth of other professions – Advancement opportunities may be limited if controlled by another profession.

Potential decline in quality of care – Poor regulation and collaboration can negatively affect patient outcomes.

To solve the problem, the head of medical Council, should be headed by different health professionals, alternatively, or by election, and since combined others health professionals are many than doctor, they will have upper hand in election

I think other health professionals should accept this because if they are under Doctor's regulation, they will be more protected and discrimination in remuneration will be reduced

If this happens the doctors would just swallow other professionals up.
You know we don't know how to handle power and authority in this country.

ColdHunter:
Doctors want to ensure they dominate every department in the health sector.

What I even want health practitioners to protest is that nonsense policy that only medical doctors can be MDs. What in the hell is that? Isn't the position of an MD a strictly administrative position? If a doctor can be MD or CMD, why can't a nurse or a pharmacist?

That is why today especially in FTHs, you find Doctors as head of units like Servicom and Social Welfare.

In every medical team, no matter the number of disciplines present in the team, A medical doctor is the defacto leader, and that is how it has always been from time immemorial. Every medically related profession is a command in their own right but once it becomes a multidisciplinary approach as it is in a hospital setting, a doctor is the defacto leader in terms of hierarchy to avoid lack of command structure that may ultimately lead to loss of life

An administrative lead role for other health professions will be complex to navigate because that person will have to answer to a doctor in his primary role plus administrative needs of the hospital because a doctor by default is trained in every area of health including an extensive training in his own department. It is just like giving the best player in a football team the captain band in most cases

That been said, it is very wrong to merge every health discipline under the MDCN. It creates autocracy, and incompetence in the long run. I don't know why the Nigerian government are always thinking backwards and it is evident by the type of leaders we have in recent years.Every one is important in saving lives, same way pharmacy shops, lab centers, first aid, physiotherapy centers etc are also independently set up to care for the lives of patients as a whole

Wether other professionals like it or not ,the doctors are the de facto head of the medical and health team.

Very soon,anyone will be able to become the VC of Universities too.

Host78:
It's not a merger.

It's a regulatory unit. What the doctors are saying is, yes you can do your thing but you'll still be subject to us.

Now imagine in a hospital, the nurse are doing their things on a patient, the physiotherapist are doing another thing to the same patient and then there's the doctor doing his thing to the same patient.

The doctors are basically saying everyone should not be allowed to do as they want because they are under different authorities.

It's better we have one leader who makes the final decision.

You are contradicting yourself.
You are obviously a doctor or related to one. You guys just want to avoid being accountable, you also want to monopolize the health section thereby satisfying your self at the expense of others.

U09ce:
Make all of them rest. Let the govt start appointing administrators to lead hospitals. Same with minister of health. Just like it is not necessary for minister of works to be an engineer.

Aswear e go better.

haiti007:
You are contradicting yourself.
You are obviously a doctor or related to one. You guys just want to avoid being accountable, you also want to monopolize the health section thereby satisfying your self at the expense of others.

There are no selfish people like doctors. Always want to show superiority.

Basic123:
Wether other professionals like it or not ,the doctors are the de facto head of the medical and health team.

Very soon,anyone will be able to become the VC of Universities too.

They are not defacto of anything. Go to western countries and you will see administrators leading not doctors. Just because you see it happening in Nigeria doesn't make it so.

Merging all other health care workers under NMA is senseless.

Host78:
I think everything under the hospital should be under the doctors primarily.

If you die for hospital, the first person they question is the doctor.

No one calls the pharmacist or the nurses.

They call the doctor and try to pin it on him first before anything.

So, if I'm the one I'll like to give such a person as much power to make decisions as possible.

You don’t know how the hospitals work.
The people who coordinate the activities of the hospitals are the nurses, sef.
They served as a like between the patient and other support staff from the laboratories, pharmacy, physiotherapist, and even the doctors, I.e,they ensure that lab results,x-rays,and other investigations 🔎 are being conducted, the ensure that the patient gets the right drugs and at when due,they ensure that patient is ready for other supportive therapies, they are always at the bedside to monitor and ensure that the patient is doing well.
Nurses are more considered in leadership positions that's why they head most of the units in NHS UK,IRELAND etc.

All over the world, different healthcare professionals are regulated by separate councils! In the UK for instance, pharmacy practise is regulated by the general pharmaceutical council (GPhC). In Canada, the Pharmacists registration board of Canada regulates pharmacy practise. The list is endless!

Why must the Nigerian medical doctors with their black man's mentality try to indirectly lord over other healthcare professionals? Where is it done? The national assembly must understand that the bill is nothing but a calculated attempt by medical doctors to hijack the headship of other departments in the hospitals and health institutions even without having the knowledge of these professions. The bill must not scale through the national assembly unless they want to plunge the healthcare system into chaos!

Let the status quo remain! The different healthcare professionals must continue to be independently regulated by the already existing regulatory bodies! A word is enough for the wise!

Dpharmacist:
“Healthcare War in Abuja: Doctors vs Other Professionals? Protest Erupts Over ‘Power Grab’ Bill”



Sources:

1. https://punchng.com/health-workers-protest-controversial-reform-bills-at-nassembly-today/

2. https://radionigeria.gov.ng/2026/03/26/health-workers-protest-against-regulatory-bill-in-abuja/#:~:text=by%20Bakare%2012%20hours%20ago,Adeniyi%20Bakare%20and%20Tony%20Okerafor

I'm a doctor. Almost 20 years in the grind. This is wrong in all shades. Those are professionals ffs. I know sometimes the other healthcare practitioners try to overreach themselves but this is quite over the top by us doctors. It wont fly

Not a healthcare professional but truncation of administration can never be a good thing and I just donot understand why Nigerians love it. They just love their feudalism. They want to have a single king of medical science and practice in Nigeria....and all his subjects bowing to him.... medieval thinking.

While they busy bickering, AI is creeping up on them and Wil soon steal their knickers leaving them thoroughly exposed.

Are your options the international standards?
Or just your own personal opinion.

ColdHunter:
Doctors want to ensure they dominate every department in the health sector.

What I even want health practitioners to protest is that nonsense policy that only medical doctors can be MDs. What in the hell is that? Isn't the position of an MD a strictly administrative position? If a doctor can be MD or CMD, why can't a nurse or a pharmacist?

That is why today especially in FTHs, you find Doctors as head of units like Servicom and Social Welfare.

Dpharmacist:
The unions argue that Nigeria’s healthcare system is built as a multi professional structure, where pharmacists, nurses, lab scientists, and other health workers are regulated by independent councils. According to them, merging this authority under one body risks turning the system into a doctor dominated hierarchy.

jaephoenix:
I'm a doctor. Almost 20 years in the grind. This is wrong in all shades. Those are professionals ffs. I know sometimes the other healthcare practitioners try to overreach themselves but this is quite over the top by us doctors. It wont fly

How? All you have to do is reconstitute the MDCN membership to be representative of all the professions involved. This is a needless war.

So a Dr will leave his primary work to come to the lab for instance and start telling laboratory personnels what to do? A Dr will now decide who laboratory council should license and start regulating private laboratories when we have alot of unregulated practices that the mdcan has not yet finished with they are encroaching into other profession, it is nothing but power driving attitude and ego that's all. In the hospital they make almost all the decisions but taking it to private sectors is far too much, I can not own a lab until a Dr comes and certified, everyone cannot b a Dr and we all need everyone to work together for a proper healthcare delivery, in the hospital all the positions are occupied by Dr no one blinks about but don't take it to my personal business

Host78:
It's not a merger.

It's a regulatory unit. What the doctors are saying is, yes you can do your thing but you'll still be subject to us.

Now imagine in a hospital, the nurse are doing their things on a patient, the physiotherapist are doing another thing to the same patient and then there's the doctor doing his thing to the same patient.

The doctors are basically saying everyone should not be allowed to do as they want because they are under different authorities.

It's better we have one leader who makes the final decision.

You dey whine me abi?

dalongjnr:
You don’t know how the hospitals work.
The people who coordinate the activities of the hospitals are the nurses, sef.
They served as a like between the patient and other support staff from the laboratories, pharmacy, physiotherapist, and even the doctors, I.e,they ensure that lab results,x-rays,and other investigations 🔎 are being conducted, the ensure that the patient gets the right drugs and at when due,they ensure that patient is ready for other supportive therapies, they are always at the bedside to monitor and ensure that the patient is doing well.
Nurses are more considered in leadership positions that's why they head most of the units in NHS UK,IRELAND etc.

Dpharmacist:
What do you think my fellow Nairalanders?

They all work in one hospital, they all work for one goal. So why many umbrellas. I beg all fall under medical.
If they can fund the organization themselves let them continue but if they are expecting anything from government aside salary they're gented

ColdHunter:
Doctors want to ensure they dominate every department in the health sector.

What I even want health practitioners to protest is that nonsense policy that only medical doctors can be MDs. What in the hell is that? Isn't the position of an MD a strictly administrative position? If a doctor can be MD or CMD, why can't a nurse or a pharmacist?

That is why today especially in FTHs, you find Doctors as head of units like Servicom and Social Welfare.

Every of them wanted to be doctor initially but couldn't make it. It is appropriate to salute and respect those that made it.
Nothing a scientist or pharmacist or nurse can explain that a doctor cannot explain but there is a lot a doctor knows that non of them has ever heard before

Dpharmacist:
“Healthcare War in Abuja: Doctors vs Other Professionals? Protest Erupts Over ‘Power Grab’ Bill”



Sources:

1. https://punchng.com/health-workers-protest-controversial-reform-bills-at-nassembly-today/

2. https://radionigeria.gov.ng/2026/03/26/health-workers-protest-against-regulatory-bill-in-abuja/#:~:text=by%20Bakare%2012%20hours%20ago,Adeniyi%20Bakare%20and%20Tony%20Okerafor

It is better let the government know who to relate with, not that today doctor will strike tomorrow nurse next tomorrow johesu abi na Jehovah witness.
The same thing should be done in our university. Today na nasu tomorrow asu all of them should merge and stop extortion

Does that mean everyone has their breakfast served as the situation warrant? 🤔

damoobaba:
The thing tire man. Kwara dey burn, dem dey protest for Abuja, we dey chop anniversary rice for my office.

It's only in Nigeria that nonsense like this can happen. Nigerian doctors are just too arrogant and power-drunk.

Is this the same practice when they travel abroad?

What is wrong with the previous arrangements? Why create problems where there is none?

I know that the other healthcare professionals will never allow this nonsense to stand

ojuu4u:
In other words anybody can be VC in the universities, since VC too is adminstrative position.

Absolutely.

VCship ismt reserved for any profession within the university system

dapadawee:
Every of them wanted to be doctor initially but couldn't make it. It is appropriate to salute and respect those that made it.
Nothing a scientist or pharmacist or nurse can explain that a doctor cannot explain but there is a lot a doctor knows that non of them has ever heard before

Not true.

There are pharmacists that always wanted to be pharmacists and so on.

I can understand for say, Anatomists and co.

Kalatium:
They are not defacto of anything. Go to western countries and you will see administrators leading not doctors. Just because you see it happening in Nigeria doesn't make it so.

So,in western wordl anybody can lead a patient managing team.

You dey cap bro!

Hospital administration is difft from patient management.
By the way,dont we havw director of Admin in various Nigerian hospitals.
Its like saying an administrator shoould be appointed a head of the university and not a VC.


A Chief Medical Director (CMD) is a senior physician who leads and oversees all medical and clinical operations within a healthcare organization.
Key responsibilities:
Clinical leadership: Ensures high standards of patient care and safety
Policy development: Sets medical protocols, guidelines, and best practices
Supervision: Oversees doctors and clinical staff
Quality control: Monitors outcomes, audits performance, and improves care delivery
Administration: Works with management on budgeting, staffing, and strategic planning
Regulatory compliance: Ensures the organization follows medical laws and ethical standards
Where they work:
Hospitals
Health systems
Government health agencies
Insurance or healthcare organizations
In simple terms:
A Chief Medical Director is the top doctor in charge of clinical decisions and medical quality in an organization.

This bill is satanic and should be thrown to the bin where it belongs. Healthcare system is a multi-discipline professions which comprises of Medical laboratory scientist, Nurses, Pharmacists, Doctors etc. An attempt to Lord a doctor over other professionals should be resisted. All of them passed through the university under a rigorous trainings and should be allowed to independently flourish in their own unit and councils without interference by the doctors. Government should start planning of appointing health administrator as the head of all hospitals both federal and state.