Council may sanction eight doctors for alleged misconduct
By Chukwuma Muanya,
Senior Health Reporter
EIGHT medical doctors may lose their licences if the charges of professional misconduct levelled against them are substantiated.
The Medical and Dental Practitioners Investigating Panel (MDPIP), an arm of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDIN) yesterday ended a three-day probe of the doctors in Lagos.
The MDPIP, under the chairmanship of Dr. A. Abayomi Jorge Ferreira arraigned a registered medical practitioner for having attended to one late Mrs. Islamiyya Kofoworola Adeola between September 1996 and October 1996 in a manner that constituted professional negligence, among other irregularities.
The Panel, in a nine-point charge against the doctor, alleged the inability of the latter to carry out adequate pre-operative investigations of total and differential white cell count; urinalysis and chest radiograph; causing further severe injury to the patient by tearing a segment of the terminal ileum; and failing to recognise that the patient had developed post-operative peritonitis, septicaemia and hypokalaemia.
The allegations also included the late referral of the patient for further and better care; late request for specialist assessment and advice early in post-operative period; adopting a surgical process not consistent with standard surgical practice; and failure to maintain close and necessary clinical care as the occasion demanded.
After a two-day arraignment and hearing, the case was adjourned to September 21, 2004, by the MDPIP.
The panel also accused another registered medical practitioner of publishing an article in a Nigerian newspaper that breached the Rules of Professional Conduct for Medical and Dental Practitioners of Nigeria, 1995 edition and punishable under Section 16 of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, Cap.221, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.
After an exhaustive hearing, the Panel promised to give judgement on the case on September 21, 2004.
The panel also probed two others for publicly making claims in the press with respect to the discovery of a new and second-to-none surgical procedure for the treatment of imperforate anus.
According to Ferreira, by the said facts the duo conducted themselves unprofessionally contrary to Rules 32, 33 and 34 of Rules of Professional Conduct for Medical and Dental Practitioners in Nigeria (revised edition, 1995) and punishable under Section 16 of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act. Cap 221, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.
Another doctor was charged for publishing articles in the newspaper contrary to the rules and regulations of the MDCN. The other three cases could not be heard by the panel, which adjourned the hearing of the cases and judgement till September 21 and 23.
