Tension In UNTH As 120 Graduate Doctors Protest Delayed Induction

The aggrieved graduate doctors who were billed to be inducted into the Medical Council, prevented the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Basil Ezeanolue and the Provost, Prof. Basden Onwubere from leaving the venue after only 18 out of the 138 graduates including the two daughters of the Dean (Ezeanolue) were inducted.

The graduates who had been waiting for their induction since August, this year, were given 48 hours notice by the Dean to report for the exercise which marks their formal graduation from the school at 9 am yesterday.

Saturday Vanguard learnt that only 18 of the fresh doctors including the daughters of the Dean were present in the hall at 9 am and the door was shut against others most of who reside at the former site of UNTH in Enugu capital city.

Virtually all the graduates had arrived the venue between 9.00 and 9.10 am but the dean was said to have ordered the security men not to allow them access to the hall despite their pleas.

But soon after the induction of the 18 graduates their aggrieved colleagues barricaded the entrance while some blocked the dean’s vehicle from leaving the venue insisting that they should be inducted just as they did to their few colleagues, who were mostly children of the lecturers.

One of the graduate doctors, Kingsley Njoku, told Vanguard that the action of the Dean was premeditated saying their lateness for less than 10 minutes was not enough for him to truncate their induction which he had delayed for about five months.

He said that but for the quick intervention of the Vice Chancellor of UNN, Prof. Bartho Okolo the Dean had earlier collected N70, 000 from each of the medical graduates, a fee he claimed was for professional license.

However, it was gathered that the VC got infuriated over the outrageous amount and demanded that the students be refunded the entire amount which was far below the amount charged for collection of the professional license.