At least 96 cases of misconduct among registered medical doctors are set to appear before an investigation panel of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.

Total number of misconducts reported so far have risen to nearly 120, but only 96 are ready for investigation, said Dr Udugbai Ilevbare, acting registrar of MDCN.

"The number is actually increasing by the day because Nigerians are now becoming more enlightened," he said Friday, noting the council was worried because the cases, if unchecked, had "the tendency to bring the profession into disrepute."

Only cases involving registered doctors appear before the panel; those involving what the council regards as "quacks and charlatans" are reported directly to police.

Among the cases being investigated is a doctor on national service in Ondo who used a practice certificate belonging to another doctor in Jos. In Cross River, a doctor working in a government establishment is thought to have "stolen" the certificate of a friend he claimed was dead, the council said at a conference in Abuja.

The panel will also investigate cases where "duty of care has not been fully given, as when a patient is not seen as often as his condition would warrant," Ilevbare explained.