The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has once again flayed the attempts to create the Office of the Surgeon General of the Federation and the proposed National Health Commission.

 

In a statement in Lagos signed by its president, Mr. Olumide Akintayo, PSN said the latest kite flying at the National Conference was being orchestrated by the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu using the national lesderdhip of the Nigerian Medical Association as foot soldiers.

“More ridiculous are the attempts by these same players to use the instrument of the National Conference to privatise pharmacy and medical laboratory science practices in public health facilities,” he added.

 

Responding to the alleged schemings, Akintayo said: “Ordinarily, we would have ignored the conspiracy to privatise these professional practices by persons who insist on vindictive purposelessness against perceived arrowheads of genuine reforms in health care, but in a country where opinion leaders carry on with the peculiarity of a dysfunction of the protoplasm, nothing can be safely taken for granted.

“For the records, we wish to guide the National Conference that the Office of Surgeon General is not desirable for the following reasons; the justification for the position of a Surgeon-General in contemporary publications and reflections is hinged on the need for such a public officer to be saddled with the responsibility of coordinating public health. This assertion on face value is ridiculous and certainly most unconvincing because the basic tenets of medical training positions any registered medical practitioner to undertake the responsibility of driving processes that border on public health.

 

“The information provided on the need for the post of the Surgeon-General cannot be a compelling factor to waste scarce public funds for an ego trip. The precedence of a Surgeon-General draws its parallel from only the U.S.A. It is not the norm in any other part of the world.

“It is instructive to note that the office of the Assistant Secretary of Health to which the Surgeon General reports in the U.S.A. is junior to the Minister of State for Health in Nigeria.”

 

He added further: “Similarly the attempt to privatise some health professional practice notably pharmacy and medical laboratory science is a violation of the rights of practitioners of these professions as Section 42 (1) a and b of the 1999 constitution protects citizens of Nigeria from discrimination that deprives them of legitimate rights as citizens. If indeed government must privatise any practice in the health sector, it must be across board to all component members of the health team to ensure a sense of fair justice and equity to all concerned. For the records however a Public Private Partnership policy in pharmacy practice must be in tandem with existing laws and logically must be well structured.”