MEDICAL STUDENTS TO SPEND SEVEN YEARS NOT ELEVEN - NUC

The erroneous and misleading news making the round that Nigerian Medical Students will now spend eleven years to obtain their first degree has been disputed by the National Universities Commission.

The National Universities Commission’s Head of information department, Mrs Adebukola Olatunji , said in a statement  on Monday that medical students will only spend seven years in school, rather than eleven years which was widely reported in the news.

Mrs. Olatunji said news men misrepresented the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie , who was quoted to have announced the eleven years training period for medical students while giving a keynote address at the matriculation inauguration of the university of medical sciences , Ondo , South west Nigeria on 12^th March , 2016 .

According to Olatunji, what Okojie explained was that the National Universities Commission’s basic minimum academic standard for medicine and surgery and dentistry will first have to study any of the four basic medical science courses , such as Anatomy , Medical Biochemistry, physiology before proceeding to the clinical training that would run for three years .

She said “Although the so called eleven years Medical programme stories have been credited to the commission’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie’s keynote address titled, “Development of Medical Education in Nigeria; prospects and challenges”, which was delivered at the matriculation and inauguration of the University.