A KEY NOTE ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT TAIWO OYEWUMI AT THE 15TH ANNUAL WORKSHOP AND GENERAL MEETING OF COMMITTEE OF HEADS OF PHYSIOTHERAPY DEPARTMENTS IN NIGERIA (CHOPDIN) AT FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTRE, ASABA ON 3RD NOVEMBER, 2014.

 

I feel highly honoured to address this “August Gathering” of CHOPDIN. CHOPDIN has continued to play key leadership role in the affairs of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy (NSP). I am happy to be part of you and I promise to continue to represent this constituency in good light as the President for the sole aim of raising the profile of our noble profession, Physiotherapy in Nigeria and beyond. I congratulate the leadership of CHOPDIN for working in tandem with the NSP National Executive Council. My heartfelt thanks go to the outgoing Chair of CHOPDIN, Dr. Amaka Abanum for holding forth the mantle of leadership of CHOPDIN in the last four years. Dr. Abanum is an illustrious daughter of Delta state and is one of the pioneer graduate of the online transitional Doctor of Physiotherapy(t-DPT) programme of the U-M Flint, Michigan, USA. I welcome all the new Heads of Departments to the fold and wish them the best of luck in their career pursuit.

 

The theme of this year’s CHOPDIN workshop “Physiotherapy in the Prevention of Lifestyle Related Diseases” is apt and timely as the upsurge of non-communicable diseases in ravaging havoc. I implore you to also lead the way in curbing communicable diseases and make issue of universal precautions to be action points in your various facilities. I am pleasantly impressed regarding the role this group played in supporting the Federal government alongside with the NSP NEC in the containment of “Ebola Virus outbreak”. As a united family we are moving forward to lead the health sector in Nigeria.

I am elated to inform you that the administration of the NSP under my leadership made tremendous progress in the last two years with the help of God and overwhelming support from all of you. To the glory of God we recorded over 70% of the mandate presented. There were many daunting challenges and hurdles we faced but we were able to surmount them. In the course of discharging our duties some errors and mistakes were unavoidable but none was intentional. I take absolute responsibility for such errors and apologize sincerely for them. We have drawn valuable lessons from our past mistakes and we believe that leadership is work in progress.

In the last two years we have engaged democratic process through different platforms of meetings to take decisions and draw action plans in the best interest of the profession. We had meetings on Skype, had three Ordinary General Meetings (OGMs) at Dutse, Jigawa state, Asaba, Delta state and Port Harcourt, Rivers state including numerous physical meetings. I appreciate the elders who painstakingly assisted us in the writing of NSP position papers to the Presidency, National House of Assembly, Presidential Committees, Federal Ministry of Health and others too numerous to mention. We have benefitted tremendously from their wealth of experience. We pray that God will continue to replenish them in many folds. Amen.

 

Please permit me to highlight some of our key achievements: 

i. Doctor of Physiotherapy(DPT) Programme: Our collaboration with UM-Flint, Michigan, USA is yielding good results as the second set of Nigerian Physiotherapists on transitional DPT(t-DPT) have completed their programme. We have completed the review of an international standards DPT curriculum and submitted to the National Universities Commission(NUC) through the Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Board of Nigeria (MRTB). We are working assiduously to secure the approval of DPT as Bench Mark Minimum Academic Curriculum(BMAC) by the NUC .

 

ii. National Postgraduate Physiotherapy College of Nigeria (NPPCN): NPPCN was inaugurated by the NSP leadership under Revd. Adeoluwa Jaiyesimi on Friday 2nd November, 2012 at the Edo 2012 NSP Conference that held in Benin City, Edo state. This administration went to work to build the structure and developed the roadmap for the College. On Tuesday 16th April, 2013 we inaugurated the governing Council of the College. The College has developed the curriculum for eight specialty areas and published the list of foundation fellows of the College. The proposal for Executive Bill passage is currently receiving attention of the Federal Ministry of Health for input and presentation to the Federal Executive Council and the National House of Assembly. We are currently in the receipt of an invitation for courtesy visit with the Honourable supervising Minister of Health, Dr. Khaliru Alhassan on November 14th, 2014. Our meeting with him will afford us the opportunity to present various challenges facing the NSP and the profession. The Minister also accepted our invitation to be present at the opening ceremony on Thursday 6th November, 2014.

iii. Inauguration of Specialty groups: We resuscitated the existing specialty groups and inaugurated Neurology/Mental Health, Paediatric, Women Health, Oncology and Palliative Care and Stroke support care groups. These groups are expected to be the driving force in the pursuance of NSP education goals. 

iv. Collaboration: We collaborated with the following among many to achieve our aims and objectives; a. World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) and WCPT Africa Region. b. American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). c. Health Federation of Nigeria. d. Association of Health Care Professionals. e. Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professionals. f. Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU). The NSP played active role with the above mentioned groups and jointly signed numerous advertorials and position papers with them. 

 

v. NSP Representation: We submitted position paper on National Health Bill and defended our position paper at the public hearing held on February 7th, 2013 at the National House of Assembly, Abuja. We also submitted position paper to the Presidential Committee on Industrial Harmony in Health and defended NSP position on Thursday 20th, May 2014 at Abuja. We met with the APTA on June 6th, 2013 at Salt Lake City, USA to broker NSP/APTA collaboration. The APTA and the Canadian Physiotherapy Association sponsored the NSP President fully to attend the WCPT organized Work Force Summit that held at Alexandria, Virginia, USA in December, 2013. The extra Africa continent invitation became imperative sequel to the NSP president intellectual contributions and discuss at the NSP/APTA collaboration meeting that held in June, 2013. 

 

vi. Press Conferences: The NSP had press parley on July 8th, 2014 at Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos to address issues pertaining to the profession. Over forty media houses were present and the event was highly publicized both on print and electronic media. I commend Ms Ummulkulthoum Bakare and her team for the excellent work done. The NSP also addressed the press on September 8th, 2014 at National Hospital, Abuja during the World Physiotherapy Day. The NSP President granted various interviews promoting the profession. 

 

vii. Merger Issue: The NSP and MRTB worked assiduously to revert government white paper on merger of MRTB and Optometry and Dental Technician regulatory bodies. The paper for non merger is awaiting approval by President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, the President and Commander in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

viii. Stakeholders Forum: The NSP/MRTB stakeholders’ forum held on Friday 24th October, 2014 at Lagos. This initiative of the NSP was long overdue.

ix. Publications: One edition of the Journal of the NSP has been published and another one is in print. In addition, one edition of the National Physio News magazine was also published and a second one is in print as at this writing. 

x. Workshops: The NSP Education Committee will be organizing her third workshop during this conference. The NSP Education committee under the leadership of Dr. Briget Birabi has built a solid foundation that will enhance our knowledge base and hands-on skills.

xi. Physiotherapists in the Diaspora: We continue to enjoy the goodwill and support of our colleagues in the Diaspora. Last year at Akure, we had Professors Victor Obajuluwa and Abiodun Akinwuntan both based in the USA as resource persons at the NSP Conference. This year, Dr. Muoyo Okome(USA), Dr. E.B. John(USA) and Ladi Lawal(Ireland) are here with us as resource persons for this year’s Conference.

xii. Awards and Honour: The awards Committee under the leadership of Alhaji S.G. Akinwale rolled out awards to deserving NSP members and friends to NSP last year. 2014 NSP awards and honour will be a delight to all.

The above are just to mention but a few of the many achievements recorded by this administration. I solicit that we all continue to support the goals and aspirations of the NSP to uplift the profession. I sincerely appreciate the huge investments you have made on the present administration under my leadership and appeal that we are allowed to continue in office for the next two years to consolidate on the gains in the last two years.

 

I would also like to court your support on the following proposals I will present to the general house on Friday 7th November, 2104.

1. Establishment of Physiotherapy Council of Nigeria.

2. Commencement of Late Pa Obiri Annual Debate. 

3. Formation of NSP Guild of Elders.

4. Induction of graduating Physiotherapy students at the same time with that of the MRTB.

5. Insurance coverage for NSP members.

6. Formation of NSP Academic members Forum.

I thank you for listening and wish you happy stay at Asaba.

credit: Afolabi Oluyinka