PRESIDENT of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Olumide Akintayo, has cautioned the Federal Government against making health administration in all the government-owned hospitals the exclusive rights of medical doctors.
Akintayo, in a chat with reporters at the weekend in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, described health sector as a multi-disciplinary one where doctors alone should not be at the pinnacle of the pyramid of treatment of patients and the administration of the sector.
He said there should not be any reason for a contest of superiority among health workers, noting that none of the workers could successfully work in isolation of others.
The PSN, ahead of the national summit of the association slated for Ilorin later in the year, canvassed the replacement of the former Minister of State for Health, Ali Pate, with either a pharmacist or any other health worker, who must not be a medical doctor. Pate had recently resigned his appointment.
The PSN leader, who described strike as alien to his leadership style, said his body would intensify its persuasive methods with government with the aim of putting the nation’s health system on a very good footing.
According to Akintayo, “Pharmacists are not in any form of popularity context with doctors. I do know that constitutional imperatives are very clear. There are conditions precedents in the 1999 Constitution for you to be a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“It is not my business if anybody appoints a doctor as his minister, all we are saying here is that government needs to be very careful in the way it runs healthcare endeavours. The health sector is a peculiar one. It is a multi-disciplinary sector. There is an array of different healthcare providers.”
He added: “We have told government several times that if there are two slots allotted to the Federal Ministry of Health, it can not get it right if it appoints members of a single profession to run that type of ministry. It had never happened in the past. It is only under the current administration that it is happening and it is sickening and disgusting.
“The fallouts are very clear. Check out some of the things going on in the Federal Ministry of Health. When President Goodluck Jonathan came on board, he recognised that there were problems in the health sector. One of the first things he did was to set up a presidential committee on harmony for the sector.”
Akintayo noted that the committee members came out with a position that most of the things that have created problems for the sector stemmed from an obnoxious act of parliament allegedly created during the military era by the late Health Minister, Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti.
According to him, “That Act is called Act 10 of 1985. It wasn’t until 1985 that it became the birthright of medical doctors to head hospitals in this country. Hitherto, it was administrators heading hospitals. In places like the University Teaching Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, what we had were hospital governors.
“We have a legislation that in board appointment, between seven and eight slots have been reserved permanently for only medical doctors and with 12 members’ board. So we have a situation whereby all other health professionals are given one slot.
“Tragically, the current health minister has found it very difficult to allow members of other professions in the sector to be represented in any board. Today, presidential committee on harmony report is being manipulated by him and the Federal Executive Council has thrown that report away.”
Akintayo alleged that the professional regulatory council, in order to weaken other professions, deliberately replaced PSN representatives at the council with a nominee of former registrar of the council, adding that the development had not till date allowed the council to function optimally for more than seven years.
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