The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has said the report by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which accused Nigerian doctors and other medical professionals of receiving bribes before treatment is a campaign of calumny.
LEADERSHIP Weekend recalled recently a report released by the NBS stating that 42 per cent of health workers received bribes to speed up the procedure and 15 per cent also took bribes to make the finalisation of the procedure possible.
MDCAN, while reacting to the allegation in a press statement faulted the report, saying it was an attempt to denigrate and dent the image and reputation of members of this noble profession before the general public in the country.
The association in a statement signed by the president, Prof. Mohammed Aminu Mohammed, in Jos dismissed the allegation of bribe adding that though Nigerian doctors are among the least paid in the world, they are hard-working and will not condescend so low to demand for bribe from patients before treatment.
They said the report is like giving a dog a bad name to hang it him and was done in a bad taste because they are not the only workers that work in health institutions either public or private.
“To us this unfounded allegations is baseless and unacceptable. We are demanding a total retraction of the so-called report which is meant to portray Nigerian doctors in a bad light.”
MDCAN also argued that there is no place that does not have bad eggs, but to label the hard-working and long-suffering Nigerian doctors who shunned greener pastures abroad to stay back to serve in the country and be painted with allegations of bribery is unfair and very unfortunate.
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