HEALTH professionals under
the aegis of the National Union of Allied to Health Professionals (NUAHP) have faulted the Alhaji Yayale Ahmed Experts Committee on Inter-Professional Relationship in the Health Sector for failing to resolve who is “medically qualified” to head government hospitals in Nigeria. Briefingnewsmen in Ibadan Thursday during a press conference organised by the union, NUAHP said although the committee’s report may go a long way in resolving some of the issues in the health sector, “the report has alsocreated further areas of disharmony especially with reference to the headship of medical laboratory science service, radiography, optometry among others, where medical practitioners are imposed as perpetual heads over other professionals.” NUAPH President, Mr. Felix Faniran, who spoke on behalf of the union, stated that “since no profession is superior to another or inferior to the
other, we disagree with this recommendation for the
following reasons: It negates the provisions of the
individual regulatory bodies and it is also contrary
to the provision of schemes of service In use in the
federation and public service rules on seniority.”
President Goodluck Jonathan had set up a 10-man
Committee of Experts on Inter-Professional
Relationship in the Health Sector in 2013 headed by
Alhaji Yayale Ahmed. At a time, Ahmed had to resign in protest over non-funding of the committee only for the committee to re-convene in May 2014-230 days after its inauguration- and finally submitted its report to President Jonathan on December 19, last year. Since the submission of the report, there has been reactions from different quarters, the latest being from NUAPH. NUAPH comprises of physiotherapists,pharmacists, medical laboratory scientists,radiographers, optometrists, and dieticians, among other key healthcare professionals in the health sector. NUAPH, which has been on strike with the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) over some of the issues the committee report covered, has been
at the forefront of campaign for the observance of
international best practices in the appointment of
hospital heads in Nigeria. While medical practitioners believe that it is their exclusive right to head hospitals, NUAHP has repeatedly said any professional in the health sector can head a hospital. Faniran, however, “suggests that the White Paper Committee should consult with the unions and professional associations in the health sector before accepting or rejecting the recommendations of the Yayale Ahmed Committee report”. Faniran added “in order to promote industrial peace and professional autonomy, we strongly recommend that each of the recognized profession be allowed to have its own substantive head of department contrary to the recommendation that the pathologist shall be the full head of department while medical laboratory scientist shall be technical head. This is unacceptable to us.” Faniran, however, said the union “welcomes and commends the Yayale Ahmed Committee recommendation on the restructuring and re organisation of the Federal Ministry of Health to
accommodate all healthcare professional groups in
clusters,” adding that “it is our hope that this recommendation shall not only be implemented
immediately but it should be reflected in the future
amendment to the National Health Act.”On the creation of top management committee (TMC), the physiotherapist said, “the recommendation of the creation of top management committee for teaching hospitals is welcomed. However, we recommend that the position of head of department be clearly defined to mean a director or someone acting in that position who is appointed to that position through promotion and not university staff who are brought in abruptly and imposed on the authentic and permanent staff of
the teaching hospital.” The union also rejected “the abolition of Doctor of Optometry and Doctor of Pharmacy degree programmes by the National Universities Commission (NUC)

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Original source: guardian

So the report was not based on dialogue?









Moderators Fp pls