The Association of Dental Technologists of Nigeria (ADTN) has commended the national assembly for the recent effort to improve the global health profile of Nigeria through the bill for the amendment of University Teaching Hospitals (Reconstitution of boards etc) Act Cap U15 LFN 2004.
The bill which was sponsored by Honourable Bamidele Salam representing Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency of Osun State has passed second reading and is slated for a public hearing on 27th July 2021.
ADTN’s President, Raji Aderemi said the bill amendment will ensure inclusive healthcare management in the country since the bill seeks to change the nomenclature of the Head of Tertiary Health Institutions from Chief Medical Director (CMD) to Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and redefine the qualifications of the head of Tertiary Hospitals.
He added that it will also provide a definite tenure of office for the Head of Tertiary Hospitals, include students of health sciences in training programmes of hospitals, include hospital established post-enactment of the legal framework in the schedule and for other related matters and restructure the composition of the governing boards of federal government tertiary hospitals.
According to him, “They need to improve the health care delivery to all Nigerians is rooted in the quality of leadership and top management staff of our health facilities. The recent rating by WHO put Nigeria in the 187th position among a total of 191 countries. This is evident by the lack of confidence in the health sector by the elites and the political class who constantly embark on medical tourism.
“The problem in the health sector is the dominance of medical practitioners in the leadership, management and administration of the tertiary health institutions since Decree 10 was promulgated in 1985, now Act Cap U15 LFN, 2004.
“The best days of healthcare services in Nigeria were when the teaching hospitals and health ministry were managed by health administrators, politicians, and lawyers who were not medical doctors. Those were the glorious days in the sixties and seventies when UCH was under the headship of the house governor and even the Saudi Arabia royal family sought health care in Nigeria.
“The Decree 10 confers headship of the teaching hospitals and the entire health sector at all levels from federal, state and local government on a doctor without the managerial skill to make it work.”
Raji Aderemi said currently the composition of the governing board is skewed in favour of doctors where eight out of the fourteen board members are doctors with only one member representing the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) for all other professionals.
According to him, in the structural organization of the Federal Ministry Of Health, out of eight directors, five are doctors while only one, the director of Drug and Food services is the other health professional and this further stressed the hegemony of doctors.
ADTN’s Secretary, Stephen Eyarefe said the amendment of the Act will help to address the injustices and inter-professional rivalries in the health sector.
According to him, “ Instead of focusing on health care services and the well-being of patients, the leadership is playing politics of hegemony to ensure increased salary relativity of doctors at the expense of other health workers hence the incessant crisis, strikes and unhealthy rivalries.
“Contrary to the claim of the MDCAN that the bill will destroy the hospitals due to the perennial and insatiable quest by other health professionals to take over tertiary health hospitals through the backdoor. It is rather unfortunate that their desperation to hold onto power did not make them see the need to address the problems of infrastructural decadence and rots in the health sector as a result of bad leadership which is not in tandem with global best practices.”
The bill for the amendment of University Teaching Hospitals (Reconstruction of Board, etc) Act Cap U15 LFN, 2004 will open up the administrative space to allow other health professionals with requisite administrative competence to contribute to the growth and development of the health sector.
All professional groups in the health sector deserve the career potential to become decision makers and problem solvers to improve the quality of services and reduce inter-professional rivalries. This should include health professionals like Medical Lab Scientists, Pharmacists, Physiotherapists, Dental Technologists, Radiographers, Dieticians, Medical physicists, Dental therapists etc.
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