Medical doctors under the aegis of Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria on Thursday opposed a bill seeking to redefine the qualifications of heads of university teaching hospitals in Nigeria.
The bill seeks “an Act to amend the University Teaching Hospitals (Reconstitution of Boards etc.) Act Cap U15 LFN 2004” and is being sponsored by the member of the House of Representatives representing Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency of Osun State, Bamidele Salam.
The bill, among other things, seeks to change the nomenclature of the heads of tertiary health institutions in Nigeria from Chief Medical Director; redefine the qualification of the heads of tertiary hospitals; provide a definite tenure of office for the heads of tertiary hospitals; and include students of Health Sciences in the training programmes of tertiary hospitals among others.
But MDCAN noted that passing the bill would portend risks to the running of tertiary health institutions in the country.
The statement read in part, “This obnoxious bill did not come to us as a surprise as we know that the bill could not have been from any other source apart from a group of workers within the federal tertiary hospitals in the country, who are hell-bent on destroying these hospitals due their perennial, insatiable quest to take over the federal tertiary hospitals through the back door.