The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria has debunked reports claiming that the council signed a bilateral agreement with the UK government restricting the emigration of doctors.
The disclaimer was issued by the MDCN hours after it posted some pictures announcing that some officials of the council visited the GMC, UK.
A Twitter user @doctorisonu, had on Wednesday, tweeted that “I’m hearing that the visit of the Nigeria MDCN team to the UK …there was a bilateral agreement between Nigeria and UK government that before any Nigerian doctor can practice and be registered in the UK, they must have worked in Nigeria for 10 years.”
However, the council on its Facebook page said, “The social media was flooded with fake news and misinterpretations over MDCN’s visit to the General Medical Council, UK.
“We have a lot of useful discussions amongst which is the possibility of the UK government repatriating some funds in line with global health initiatives from Nigerian doctors who were trained with taxpayers’ funds.
“Discussion around stemming the tide of brain drain also took place.
“Therefore, the rumour about a bilateral agreement that all Nigerian – trained doctors must practice in Nigeria for at least 10 years before being qualified to live and work in the UK or elsewhere is FALSE, uncalled for, mischievous and should be totally disregarded.
“However, no form of agreement was signed.”