UNILAG’s College of Medicine inducts 134 doctors

The College of Medicine (CMUL), University of Lagos (UNILAG) has inducted 134 medical and dental graduates into the Medical and Dental professions respectively.

The induction took place at the Old Great Hall, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba and had many dignitaries, friends and families of the inductees in attendance.

The Provost of the College, Prof David Oke, in a welcome address, charged the inductees to be good ambassadors of the college and the nation.

“Remember that your training is a combination of godliness and excellence, which is what will define your future.

“The good physician treats the patient who has the disease. If you want to succeed in this profession, never neglect your connection with the Great Physician.

Oke noted the difficulties facing most Nigerians currently, but expressed confidence that the inductees would pull through by relying on the training they had received.

He said: “it is a well established fact that the Nigerian terrain is difficult, but I am confident that with the quality of training you have received, you will rise above all the difficulties you may encounter and make positive impact in your chosen profession — the health sector.

“I charge you inductees that your future should not be a confusing time, but a demanding and challenging time.

“Demanding because it will often require you to multitask, undergo interdisciplinary collaborations; Challenging because it is a terrain you are not used to but you have to flourish.”

The provost also enjoined the inductees to explore new frontiers of knowledge and become distinguished professional practitioners.

He said that, over the years, despite the increase in the student population, funding to the Health Sector had dwindled,.

He added that this had resulted in decay in the college’s infrastructure, despite the efforts of the successive administrations.

He, therefore, called on the college’s alumni, corporate bodies and philanthropic individuals to invest in the college.

Dr. Tajudeen Sanusi, Registrar, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), who administered the oath-taking and affirmation for the inductees, warned them to desist from taking to social media to criticize the regulatory body.

“This is a regulated profession; there are certain conducts expected of you as doctors, you don’t go to the social media disparaging your regulatory body,” he said.

Sanusi added that the attitude of taking every matter to social media may cause the inductees to disclose confidential information about patients under their care to the public of the social media.

He warned that this would, thereby, be violation of their oath and affirmation to keep patients’ medical information private.

He warned the inductees of strict sanctions and punishment prescribed by the law against any inductee found at any point in time to break the guidelines, whether in Nigeria or abroad.

Speaking, Dr. Olayemi Dawodu, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Clina Lancet Laboratories and an alumnus of CMUL, charged the inductees to remember that graduation was not merely an end point, but a start of a new chapter— a dawn of new possibilities.

Dawodu encouraged the inductees to continue to seek knowledge, embrace challenges as opportunities for growth and always uphold the highest standards of ethical practice and compassionate care.

She advised the inductees to invest in themselves, develop clarity of purpose, authenticity and self assurance, self audit, hardwork, resilience, develop a team of mentors and strive to be great ambassadors of the CMUL, UNILAG.