I UNDERSTAND that there is a problem regarding the registration of fifth year medical students, who completed their course in November 2014 as medical interns. I submit that these constraints that have no moral, ethical or legal basis to stand on, are externally imposed and are not of students' making.
Section 18(1) of Medical and Dental Act (Act No. 10 of 2004) empowers the minister, on the recommendation of the Medical and Dental Council of Namibia, to prescribe the minimum requirement for registration as a medical practitioner. Section 16 provides that no person or institution may offer tuition, education and training unless such curriculum is approved by the Medical and Dental Council (MDC). In compliance with these statutory provisions, which are instructive, the minister, by regulation (No. 2415 of 28 September 2000), has initially prescribed the medical programme to be of six years duration of which five years were earmarked for studies and one year for internship. The duration of an internship was subsequently changed to two years in Regulation No. 3783 of 5 February 2007. Full stop!
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