Consultant surgeon decries failure rate in post-graduate medical exams

A consultant surgeon, Dr Nasir Ibrahim, has said the increase in the failure rate of medical students in post-graduate medical examinations in recent years was worrisome.
He spoke in Lagos on Wednesday at the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) with the theme: “Post-Graduate Medical Training; Myths, Facts and the Winning Approach.”
Ibrahim, also a lecturer at the College of Medicine, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, said that several steps needed to be taken to reduce the rate.
He said that the institutions training the resident doctors, the colleges that conduct their examinations, the trainers, as well as the trainees, had to do more to change the situation.
The surgeon said that there was the need for the provision of a conducive environment in terms of welfare, adequate staffing and effective training of residents, among others.
“It is also the duty of the trainers to ensure that they mentor the trainees.
“They need to advise them on how they can go for their examinations, which will also help in decreasing the failure rate.