In recent times, the health sector has
experienced some stressful events,
the latest of which was the nationwide
strike called by the allied health
workers under the auspices of the
Joint Health Sector Union. In this
interview with journalists, the National
President of the Nigeria Medical
Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele,
discusses sundry issues affecting the
sector. Solaade Ayo-Aderele was there
There have been numerous
complaints by members of the
public over cases of negligence and
malpractice by doctors, yet not
much has been heard in terms of
sanction of erring members. Is it a
case of cover-up by the NMA?
The NMA is as embarrassed or
uncomfortable as any person of good
conscience concerning this matter.
The only body authorised by law to try
doctors who are involved in
professional negligence or malpractice
is the Medical and Dental Council of
Nigeria; but for the past two years or
more, the Council has not been in
place. Government dissolved the last
Council in 2011 and has not
reconstituted or inaugurated another
since then. We have tried to get the
Council reconstituted, to no avail.
There are over 30 cases awaiting trial
by the Council Tribunal, but there is
no judge (chairman of Council) to
preside over the trials. The law
provides that only the chairman can
preside over the tribunal, which has
the status of a high court. The NMA
even has cases referred to the Council
against her own members, but
nothing can happen until the Council
is reconstituted and inaugurated.
Let me also inform you that in the last
10 years, the Council has not been in
place for more than four years in all.
In fact, we are embarrassed and
frustrated by the absence of the
Council. Nobody is covering anybody,
contrary to the general belief out
there.
Why was the last Council dissolved?
No explanation was given; and typical
of government, they did not give any
reason when they announced the
dissolution of all boards and councils.
The law provides that the MDCN exists
in perpetuity, yet government
frequently dissolves it alongside other
government boards of parastaltals. As
we speak now, the medical profession
is not being regulated by anyone, and
that is not good for the nation. The
public should blame the government
and not the NMA for protecting
doctors or individuals alleged to have
misbehaved in their practice.
During the strike embarked upon
by the allied health professions
under the auspices of the Joint
Health Sector Union, your members
tried to keep some services
running. How were you able to do it
in the absence of other workers?
It wasn’t anything really difficult. Our
radiologist colleagues and their
residents took charge of everything
concerning x-ray and scanning. The
laboratory medicine physicians and
their residents took care of clinical
laboratories. Most patients bought
their drugs from chemist stores in
town, while our colleague
anaesthetists were fully on ground for
the theatres to function. House
officers were on ground in the wards
all the time, and patients’ relations
assisted in bathing the patients. With
all these, we were able to forge
ahead; and I am happy to announce
that we have yet to hear that a single
person lost his/her life as a result of
the strike.
This doesn’t mean that other health
workers are not important or that we
want to take over their jobs as
erroneously held in certain quarters.
We just looked into our reserve skills
and used them to sustain services.
This partly explains why we are calling
on government to expedite action
towards the outsourcing of other
services like pharmacy, laboratory,
radiography and other supportive
services, through a Public-Private
Partnership arrangement. This will
markedly improve services in public
hospitals, in addition to saving huge
sums of money that could be used to
fund other critical aspects of hospital
services. The already outsourced ones
have performed very well and we
need to advance the programme.
Outsourcing and PPP eliminate waste
and engenders commitment, hard
work and diligence.
Why is the NMA supporting
outsourcing and PPP, contrary to its
views some years back?
I am not aware of any time the NMA
opposed outsourcing or PPP in the
hospitals. From what we have seen
from centres where outsourcing and
PPP have taken place, we believe
strongly that it is the way to go if we
must return health care to its past
glory. For now, the entire public
hospital system is overcrowded, with
a lot of wastage. People are just
milling around, obstructing duties
most of the time. We need to be
realistic; we must do what is
necessary to get the public health care
system working again.
Would this include nursing services?
No, no, no. Nurses are very important
in health care. In fact, the burden of
patient care mostly rests on doctors
and nurses. If any two groups of
people must work together in the
hospital to change things, it is the
doctors and nurses. We have been in
the business of health care with them
for a long time. So, you cannot
outsource nursing or get them
involved in a PPP arrangement. Nurses
are very important in patient care, the
attitude of a few of them
notwithstanding.
Is this the views of your colleagues
out there?
We have never underplayed the role
of nurses in patient care. Everyone
who is familiar with processes
involved in patient care will attest to
the fact that nurses are next to the
doctors in importance in patient care.
There is no reason why a laboratory
scientist or pharmacist should be paid
higher allowances than the nurse in a
hospital environment. Nurses are
quite closer to the patients than all
other allied health workers. Nurses
ought to be treated better than the
other allied health professions. I do
not see any of my members
disagreeing with this position.
Recently, the NMA gave the
government a 21-day ultimatum.
What led to it?
The decision to issue the ultimatum
was taken at the National Executive
Council meeting of the NMA held in
Sokoto on August 31, 2013. The
ultimatum was meant to draw the
attention of the government to a
series of matters that our association
had previously brought before them
for which no attention had been
given. We felt there was need to take a
more resolute stand this time around.
The issues concerned the absence of
a governing council for the MDCN,
persistent gross irregularities of the
Integrated Personnel and Payroll
Information System policy of the
government, difficult work
environment, inadequate working
tools, gross underfunding of research
and training of doctors, erosion of
best practices and professional
hierarchy in the public hospitals
buoyed by the seeming determination
of allied health workers to collapse the
health care system through various
inordinate demands, actions and
inactions, welfare issues and a few
other related issues.
Budgetary provisions for training and
retraining of staff have continued to
diminish at an alarming rate, while the
dynamics of medical sciences
continue to evolve at a jet speed. It is
only through training that we can
catch up with changes and give quality
care to our people. Only recently,
government introduced the IPPIS as a
means of payment of workers in the
public sector. We very much
welcomed the IPPIS policy, but the
gross inefficiency exhibited by the
operators has left many doctors and
some other health workers without
salaries for more than three months.
Some of these doctors are just new in
the system, and some are about to
leave the system for their national
youth service assignment. All our
complaints have yielded no positive
results so far.
Many people seem to believe that
the ultimatum was as a result of the
decision of the government to
accede to the demands of
JOHESU…?
The truth is that whatever the
government gives to those acting
under the aegis of JOHESU will
invariably impact on doctors on
account of the universally held
principle of pay relativity. So, the
government is bound to give to us as
well. If, by granting JOHESU’s
requests, the balance in wages tilts
further against doctors, it behoves the
government to take measures to
correct it.
In the same vein, if government
decides to make every nurse,
radiographer, lab scientist,
physiotherapist, etc., directors, then
doctors will also be appointed
directors and super directors.
However, issues will arise when you
appoint any of these health care
workers as directors and leave out the
doctors on the same scale. We cannot
accept to be left out.
We have had people being appointed
assistant directors and deputy
directors, even when there was no
directorate; and we consider this to
be very abnormal. Do you create a
directorate through a promotional
process? Do you create a directorate
within a department? Why would you
want to appoint someone as director
when his/her boss is not a director;
where does that leave the boss? We
must be very careful not to create
anarchy within the system.
Similar to this is the demand by every
person in the hospital to be
appointed Consultant. The cleaners,
clerks, accountant

Similar to this is the demand by every
person in the hospital to be
appointed Consultant. The cleaners,
clerks, accountants, administrators,
nurses, lab scientists, pharmacists all
want to be appointed Consultants.
What this implies is that every doctor,
right from the house officer, will be a
Consultant and those who are
Consultants now will probably
become super consultants or extra-
consultants. What we are witnessing
in the health sector does not happen
anywhere else. Decisions are taken
and policies are made without any
regard to the impact on the system
and the patient we all claim to care
for.
What is your advice?
Government should thread with
caution on matters concerning the
health of citizens. It must not
compromise on the enthronement of
professionalism and international best
practices.
What about the perception that
doctors don’t want other workers to
be promoted from level 10 to 12?
The Udoji salary review introduced the
grade level system, which terminated
on grade level 17. Under this system,
there was no grade level 11.
Everybody that was promoted from
GL 10 moved to GL 12. This was not
restricted to health workers. It was the
same across the entire civil service,
both at the state and federal levels.
Subsequent salary system reviews
abolished the gap between 10 and 12
by creating level 11 and reducing the
terminal level to 15, such that HATISS
15, CONTISS 15 and now CONHESS 15
were all the equivalent of GL17. At the
emergence of each new salary scale,
the National Salaries Income and
Wages Commission always provided a
conversion table, which was binding
and applicable across the federation.
What went wrong was that while the
rest of the state and federal workers
were complying with the conversions,
non-medical workers in the federal
hospitals were still skipping level 11. It
therefore implies that a staff moving
from CONHESS 10 to CONHESS 12 is
actually moving from GL 12 to GL 14.
The question is, why should this be
allowed for only non-doctors in the
hospitals? If it was right to skip, why
were doctors excluded from such
skipping in the system where they
work? Why is it that other workers in
the civil service of the federation are
not skipping? Our position is that this
skipping is abnormal; but if it must go
on, then every civil servant, including
doctors, teachers, engineers, and
lawyers must skip one level from
where they are today and those above
moved up. Those at the terminal
levels who did not skip before getting
there must be compensated properly
for it. This is the only way to enthrone
equity and justice.


www.punchng.com

Pls Mr laalamed, whenever u're mentioning professions for unnecessary consultancy conferment, pls do not mention Pharmacy again.. As we av consultant pharmacists all over the world..

joshuapharm: Pls Mr laalamed, whenever u're mentioning professions for unnecessary consultancy conferment, pls do not mention Pharmacy again.. As we av consultant pharmacists all over the world..

i think complain to nma. i never say non-medical personnels should not be appointed as consultants. nma is not even complaining abt it. what is my own?anybody can be appointed as consultant as long as govt is ready to pay. consultant accountant,consultant nurse etc.

WE CAN MAKE YOUR PLACE SPARKLE!

We start with our Initial Outsourcing of Housekeepers/Cleaners in Offices, Schools, Hospitals, Events and Hotels, Bungalow etc.
We clean to take care of your Offices, Schools, Hospitals, Event and Hotels from the top to the bottom and bring it up to well professional cleaning standards.

This intensive cleaning requires us to spend more time in your Offices, Schools, Hospitals, Events and Hotels, than a regular personal service but you will be wowed by the results and the ongoing level of care we'll provide through our Routine Maintenance Plan

Cleaning means different things to different people and different organisations. Common to all, however, is the need for clean and inviting internal surroundings that provide a healthy and effective working environment. Our approach is based on processes, methods, and skilled employees. This is how we ensure that the customer receives a detailed, professional, and consistent level of quality in the services delivered.

If you are interested in our services, visit our office in Lagos.

Office address: Gigastreams Consulting, Suite E 346 Ikota Shopping Complex Beside Vgc, Lekki-Ajah Lagos.

If you have any more questions, please call +2348022224787 or +2348162834579 or send an e-mail to info@gigastreamsconsulting.com, omoatinuke@gigastreamsconsulting.com, gigastreamsconsulting@gmail.com or visit our website: https://www.gigastreamsconsulting.com/
Like us on facebook....https://www.facebook.com/giga.streams?ref=hl

[b]We Can Recruit and Train for You

Recruiting is not easy as you think; we can take the burden off your shoulders if you allow us to.

Gigastreams Consulting is one of the leading recruitment consulting firms with many years experience.

We have different categories of personnel waiting to be employed. We have Senior and Middle level Managers, Administrators, Project
Managers, Supervisors, Engineers, Accountants, HR Professional, Secretaries, Front Desks Officers, Business Development Officers, Chefs, Marketers, Logistics Officers, Sales Consultants, Drivers etc.

We are based in Lagos Part of Nigeria, providing jobs for applicants and linking employees with the right caliber of workers they need.

Our goal is to provide highly skilled services more than ever before, we also offer career guidance and training to all our clients.

Core Areas and Expertise
• Project Management Training and Consultancy(including preparations towards PMP and CAPM certifications)
• Outsourced Housekeeping/cleaning(Professional cleaners and housekeepers).
• Management training.
• Human capital training and development
• Leadership training
• Emotional Intelligence Training
• Customer service and performance improvement training.
• Performance Improvement evaluation Training
• Team building Training
• Work ethics Training
• Productivity and manpower training
• Corporate training
• Recruitment.
• Speaking Engagements.

Vision
To be the best in People Development and Training.

If you are interested in our services, visit our office in Lagos.

Office address: Gigastreams Consulting, Suite E 346 Ikota Shopping Complex Beside Vgc, Lekki-Ajah Lagos.

If you have any more questions, please call +2348022224787 or +2348162834579 or send an e-mail to info@gigastreamsconsulting.com, omoatinuke@gigastreamsconsulting.com, gigastreamsconsulting@gmail.com or visit our website: https://www.gigastreamsconsulting.com/
Like us on facebook....https://www.facebook.com/giga.streams?ref=hl[/b]

Although this is an old thread but i'll like to educate Dr enabulele a.k.a "Vibro cholera" is gram positive.

There are Consultant Biomedical Scientists in the U.K. Medical laboratory Scientists are known as Biomedical Scientists in the U.K with the same job description. In Austrialia they are Consultant Medical Scientists, in the U.S Consultant Clinical laboratory Scientists.

Enabulele wants to head the Scientist in the Laboratory but he went on erroneously calling Vibro cholera a gram positive organism in a national newspaper and misleading ignorant Nigerians. A mistake an Intern Scientist can never make.

YourHealthlabs: Although this is an old thread but i'll like to educate Dr enabulele a.k.a Vibro cholere is gram positive..

There are Consultant Biomedical Scientists in the U.K. Medical laboratory Scientists are known as Biomedical Scientists in the U.K with the same job description. In Austrialia they are Consultant Medical Scientists, in the U.S Consultant Clinical laboratory Scientists.

Enabulele wants to head the Scientist the Laboratory but he went on erroneously calling Vibro cholera a gram positive organism in a national newspaper and misleading ignorant Nigerians. A mistake an Intern Scientist can never make.

Abegi park well.

joshuapharm: Pls Mr laalamed, whenever u're mentioning professions for unnecessary consultancy conferment, pls do not mention Pharmacy again.. As we av consultant pharmacists all over the world..

A "nurse consultant" is one that assist a firm on legal matters that bothers on health HE/SHE DOES NOT WORK IN AN HOSPITAL . A "consultant pharmacist" is a pharmacist that is employed to work and assist with medications in the old people"s home NOT IN AN HOSPITAL !!!!!!!!

YourHealthlabs: Although this is an old thread but i'll like to educate Dr enabulele a.k.a Vibro cholere is gram positive..

There are Consultant Biomedical Scientists in the U.K. Medical laboratory Scientists are known as Biomedical Scientists in the U.K with the same job description. In Austrialia they are Consultant Medical Scientists, in the U.S Consultant Clinical laboratory Scientists.

Enabulele wants to head the Scientist the Laboratory but he went on erroneously calling Vibro cholera a gram positive organism in a national newspaper and misleading ignorant Nigerians. A mistake an Intern Scientist can never make.

I called a junior resident yesterday to remind me the value of the submentobregmatic diameter, meanwhile I am a fellow of both d west african and the national post graduate college of surgeon...... Did Dr enebulele tell u that he is not fallible Is there any human u Hv met that is not fallible Oh I remember ur intern scientist !

Zeuss, are you really a fellow? Because if you are one I will fine you for trying to confuse me with submento bregmatic diameter and stuff? On a serious note did you finish from Uniport, because I did soooooo many years ago. I'm ancient

allycat: Zeuss, are you really a fellow? Because if you are one I will fine you for trying to confuse me with submento bregmatic diameter and stuff? On a serious note did you finish from Uniport, because I did soooooo many years ago. I'm ancient

LOL ... No I didn't finish from uniport. I did all my trainings in Ife(OAU)

Ok. Hope you are ahving as much fun as I am on nairaland. It's amazing to see the mindset of people we work with and being anonymous they can tell you what they really feel and you can do the same without the need to be dignified about it.

allycat: Ok. Hope you are ahving as much fun as I am on nairaland. It's amazing to see the mindset of people we work with and being anonymous they can tell you what they really feel and you can do the same without the need to be dignified about it.

lol ... My brother I am o . None of their write up has surprised me thus far tho. Had always known these enimities existed even while an undergraduate . Imagine wen i heard the psn president (akintayo) speak all he reminded me of was student politics

Sister not brother

allycat: Sister not brother

oh my sister please pardon me. If u had placed a ms/mrs beside allycat I would Hv had a clue

My cover would not be airtight, I am female in a male dominated field and some smart students or colleagues of mine, if on nairaland would put two and two together and know whom I am. 007 uunmasked

My cover would not be airtight, I am female in a male dominated field and some smart students or colleagues of mine, if on nairaland would put two and two together and know whom I am. 007 unmasked

allycat: My cover would not be airtight, I am female in a male dominated field and some smart students or colleagues of mine, if on nairaland would put two and two together and know whom I am. 007 unmasked

Hmmm.

*** investigative mode activated *****

allycat: My cover would not be airtight, I am female in a male dominated field and some smart students or colleagues of mine, if on nairaland would put two and two together and know whom I am. 007 unmasked