The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has urged 132 newly inducted medical doctors from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria to uphold professionalism, integrity and respect for patients and colleagues throughout their careers.
The Registrar of the council, Professor Fatima Kyari, gave the charge at the induction ceremony.
She described the event as a significant milestone and the beginning of the graduates’ professional journey.
Kyari, who was represented by Dr Tijjani Ali Madaka, said medicine requires more than academic knowledge.
She urged the doctors to combine competence and technical skills with compassion and respect for humanity.
Her words, “Every person you encounter is a person with a backstory, and they will look to you for care and cure. Please treat them with respect, be kind and leave no one behind.”
She also urged the new doctors to respect senior colleagues and teachers, while encouraging senior practitioners to provide proper mentorship to younger doctors.
Kyari cautioned the inductees against looking down on other healthcare professionals, including nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists.
She stressed that effective healthcare delivery depends on teamwork and mutual respect.
The Vice-Chancellor of ABU, Professor Ahmed Adamu, told the graduates that their induction was not merely an academic achievement but the assumption of a major responsibility to humanity.
He said every diagnosis involves a human being, and every patient represents a family placing its trust in the doctor.
Adamu disclosed that the university is upgrading clinical training facilities, laboratories, lecture halls and professorial offices to improve teaching, research and patient care.
He thanked the Federal Government for selecting ABU as a beneficiary of the High Impact Intervention in Medical Sciences.
The Chief Medical Director of ABU Teaching Hospital, Shika, Professor Ahmed Umdigas Hamidu, urged the doctors to put patients first and uphold competence, teamwork and ethical conduct.
His words, “You are graduating at a time when Nigerians need almost all of you. Our hospitals and communities are counting on you.”
Earlier, the Provost of the College of Medical Sciences, Professor Ismail Lawal Dahiru, said the MDCN had approved an increase in ABU’s medical admission quota from 180 to 350 students.
He said the increase reflects confidence in the university’s capacity to produce more medical professionals to address manpower shortages in Nigeria and beyond.
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