₦airaland Forum

Soon, these small gods will ask to sleep with our wives before treating our sick children.
whatever a deity want must be given!

(22) NMA demands that Government must
urgently set up a health trust fund that will
enhance the upgrading of hospitals.NMA is
being sentimental here, the problems of our
hospital is not funding but mismanagement
and accountability. Even if the Government
sets 100 trust funds with billions of naira
much will not come out of it, because the
hospitals are managed contrary to
Government laws and principles. Hospital/
health administrators should be the ones to
head and manage the hospitals. Our
hospitals have been poorly managed under
the leadership of Allopathic Physicians. When
there is good management and
accountability Government set goals/
objectives can be actualized.
(23) APPOINTMENT INTO THE OFFICE OF
THE CMD/MD.
NMA is always doctoring and adding to
organic laws. In her 23rd demand, NMA
stated “the position of the Chief Medical
Director/Medical Director must continue to be
occupied by a medical doctor as contained in
the act establishing the tertiary hospitals.
This position remains sacrosanct and
untouchable.” I can beat my chest and say
that the leadership of NMA have never seen
nor read the content of University Teaching
Hospitals (reconstruction of boards) cap U15,
LFN 2004 commonly called decree 10 of
1985.There is no where it stated what NMA
quoted above. In fact the term medical doctor
was never used in that document or Act.
Section 5 of the act provides;
(1) There shall be for each hospital a Chief
Medical Director who shall be appointed by
the president on such terms and conditions
as may be specified in his letter of
appointment or as may be determined from
time to time by the Federal Government.
(2)The Chief Medical Director shall
(a)Be a person who is medically qualified
and registered as such for a period of not
less than 12 years, and has had considerable
administrative experience in matters of health
and holds a post graduate medical
qualification obtained not less than 5 years
prior to the appointment as chief medical
director and
(b)Be charged with the responsibility for the
execution of the polices and matters affecting
the day to day management of the affairs of
the hospital.
In the afore-mentioned Act, there is no place
it said that the person must be a Medical
Doctor. The International best practice is
that, it is not only Medical Doctors that head
Hospitals rather, in most places; it is a
qualified hospital/health administrator that
manages the Hospital. If you do a search on
the internet on the criteria to become a truck
driver in USA, note that you will see that it
says that the person must be medically
qualified. So does being medically qualified
here mean that one must be a medical doctor
to be a truck driver? The capital answer is
“no”. It means being medically fit. The term
medically qualified as used in the act has
been misinterpreted to mean a holder of a
certificate registrable by MEDICAL AND
DENTAL COUNCIL OF NIGERIA.(MDCN).
Currently there is a case instituted in the
Federal High Court Awka by Comr. A. A Obi a
distinguished Medical Laboratory Scientist
and the suit number is FHC/AWK/CS/38/
2013.The suit is to interpret the meaning of
who is medically qualified as used in section
5 of the act. So why is NMA and her members
jumping the gun to go on strike on an issue
before the Court is that not subjudice? All
along NMA has used acts of impunity to
undermine the rule of law. The organic law
did not say the person will be a Medical
Doctor or be registrable with MDCN even
though all adverts for the posts of CMD/MD
have come to illegally say so.
It is lucid that from the foregoing, certain
questions arise. Can NMA as an Association
declare and call for strike, when it is not a
Trade Union? Is NMA above the law, that it
can undermine the provisions of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, by trampling on the code of conduct
for Public Officers as stated in the
constitution? Section 2 subsections 1,2 and
3 of the Trade Union Act, states “A trade
union shall not perform any act in furtherance
of the purpose for which it has been formed
unless it has been registered under this
act……………..”
section 2 subsection 2-where a trade union
registered under this act ceases to be
registered, it shall not there after perform any
action in furtherance of this purpose…………….
section 2 subsection 3-if any act which is
prohibited by section (1) or (2) of this
section, is performed by a trade union, then
(a)The Union and every official thereof; and
(b) Any member thereof who, not being an
official thereof, took any active part in the
performance of that act, shall be guilty of an
offence against this act.
NMA is not a registered Trade Union, so she
cannot be doing this, entrenching sabotage
and acts of impunity against the State. Above
all, endangering the lives of the citizens, she
swore on oath to protect. A situation where
NMA is going on strike as a result of these
frivolous demands is gross misconduct and
acts of negligence. Section 3 of 030301( h) of
the Public Service Rule terms negligence as a
misconduct.030402 (e) terms absence from
duty without leave as serious acts of
misconduct. Sabotage in 030402(t) is also
stated as serious misconduct. Section 33(1)
of the Nigerian Constitution 2011 as amended
provides every person has a right to life and
no one shall be deprived intentionally of his
life………section 172 of the same Constitution
states “A person in the Public Service of the
Federation shall observe and conform to the
code of conduct of the Federation “.The fifth
schedule part 1 code of conduct for Public
Officers says:
(1) A public officer shall not put himself in a
position where his personal interest conflicts
with his duties and responsibilities.
(9) A public officer shall not do or direct to be
done, in abuse of his office, any contrary act
prejudicial to the rights of any other person or
contrary to.
It is so glaring that what NMA is asking is
prejudicial and tramples on the rights of
Nigerian Citizens.
(24) IN her 24 demand NMA forgot that she
is an employee of the Government and it is
not for her to dictate on how Optometrist or
Medical Physicist should be paid. Nigeria is
not Govern by the whims and caprices of
NMA but by laws and polices made by the
Government.
CONCLUSION.
NMA and her members are not justified on
going on strike. The only reasonable demand
is demand number 20 haba! A student who
scored one out of twenty four is not doing
well at all. NMA members should know that
as workers they have duty of Fidelity, they as
Civil Servants are bound to only obey rightful
orders from NMA. They also have duty of
care and skill to the patient. And above all
their loyalty/allegiance is to the Nigerian
state. A situation where NMA gives her
members unlawful orders undermines the rule
of law and as such, such orders cannot hold
sway.
NMA has become a fifth columnists working
against the state. It is sad that NMA and her
members who have benefitted so much from
the state are now turning themselves against
the Nigerian state to become the killer of the
Nigerian People, instead of being the
Physician who is to be the healer of the
patient and people. Nigerians must rise and
say no to this medical imperialism by using
the instrumentality of the law to stop NMA
from inflicting untold hardship on her
citizenry. The Federal Government through
the Ministry of Health under Prof Onyebuchi
CHukwu must act to maintain law and order,
now that NMA has told the world that it is
because of some of the things She granted to
JOHESU on merit, is the reason NMA is going
on strike. She should seek an injunction
restraining NMA from going on strike just as
he did to JOHESU, pending the determination
of the motion on notice to know if NMA has
the locus standi to go on strike when she is
not a Trade Union. JOHESU should be firm to
seek a legal redress to restrain NMA in this
acts of lawlessness,if the Government does
not act.There must be a total restructuring of
the Health Sector. All Nigerians from all works
of life must condemn these acts of sabotage
against the State by doctors of Allopathic
Medicine under the auspices of NMA. The
Nigerian Government as a matter of urgency
should support the Natural Medicine
Development Agency Kofo Abayomi Victoria
Island, to reposition our Traditional Medicine
to be like what is seen in China, USA, U.K,
India, Korea etc. And it should be integrated
into the mainstream Healthcare System in
Nigeria. Allopathic Monopolistic Medicine
should give way to Pluralistic Medicine.
Government should create an enabling
environment for the practice of the different
Medical Systems like, Functional Medicine,
Holistic Medicine, Ethnomedicine, Ayurvedic
Medicine, Homeopathy, Osteopathy etc. All
over the world, no country is currently solely
dependent on one Medical System. Nigerians
must say no to NMA that has become anti
people. The Nigerian Government should not
allow herself to be blackmailed by NMA. She
should first and foremost challenge NMA for
acts of impunity against the state. The
federal Government should take a leaf from
Governor Fashola of Lagos State, for enough
is enough. The Government should also take
a queue from the former governor of Anambra
state, Mr Peter Obi

(15) NMA , Residency and Oversee
Training.NMA should look inwards and stop
hiding under residency and oversee training
to encourage medical tourism and waste of
tax payers money. For self reliance and self
determination the Alma Ata declaration has a
lot to help a young economy like Nigeria.
Health has a lot to do with socio-economic
indices. Diseases in the tropics are not the
same as in the temperate region. Alma Ata
declaration of 1978, encourages young
economies to look inwards locally in
providing healthcare at low and affordable
manner. All over the world it is not only one
group in the health field that does residency.
Veterinarians, Podiatrist, Medical Physicist,
Optometrist, Pharmacist, Physical Therapist,
Doctors of Ethnomedicine, Doctors of Holistic
Medicine, Doctors of Natural Medicine etc all
have residency program. Yet none of these
group in Nigeria have gone on strike because
of no oversee residency program. A privilege
is not a right. There is no government law
that says that Allopathic Doctors can only
become good doctors only when they go
oversee.NMA should stop encouraging this
mentality that anything African is
inferior.NMA should know that what they are
asking is not part of the rules of engagement.
This is the time for more humane and humble
request. Indian doctors are becoming one of
the best doctors in the world not because
they are looking overseas but because they
are looking inwards.
(16) NMA insist on payment of salaries of her
member in Owerri. Her members should also
meet part of their own responsibilities and
agreement as workers. NMA must learn to
obey constituent authority, and must make
her members to be amenable to discipline.
(17) NMA members and IPPIS platform. NMA
has always shown double standard on this
issue. Before now, members of NMA went on
strike because of the Government policy that
all worker must be on IPPIS platform. How
come it is now that NMA is just waking up
from sleep, to say that if her members are not
on IPPIS she will call her members for
indefinite strike? The Government policy is
that if you are not on a pensionable
appointment you cannot be on IPPIS. So how
can house officers and residents be on IPPIS
when their appointment is not permanent?
Moreover the 2014 Call Budget Circular from
the Ministry of Finance provides that you
cannot hold more than one appointment and
be placed in two places under IPPIS platform.
When IPPIS came many members of NMA
opposed it because it did not allow them to
be on Government pay role in two places.
(18) NMA wants to go on strike because
House Officers are said not to be part of
NARD-National Association of Resident
Doctors. The big question here is, are house
officers also paid the same as their senior
residents? In as much that the House Officer
is a junior resident while the doctor in training
to become a specialist is a senior resident
the duo cannot be part of any strike action
even with their consultants, because they
belong to an Association and not a trade
Union.NMA is only calling for House Officers
to be part of NARD for them to be part of their
numerous illegal strike action.
(19) NMA accuses Medical Laboratory
Scientists of harasment.NMA has shown
herself that she is a Joker. The world knows
that it is the other way round. That it is
members of NMA that are harassing Medical
Laboratory Scientists in Nigerian. The
number of Medical laboratory Scientist that
NMA members have instigated their sack/
termination of appointment/suspension is
worrisome. But thanks are to the Most High
for the Judiciary who brings hope for the
common man, by setting aside most of the
sack/termination/suspension. Medical
laboratory Scientists are people who do not
act on impulse, or with impunity. Why is NMA
resorting to self help when issues she has
with members of Association of Medical
Laboratory Scientists of Nigerian are in court?
Why is she the judge in her own case? The
spirit of Medical Laboratory Scientists can
never be broken. We shall always move with
great crescendo to protect patients’ interest
and the public at large, despite the
provocation and lawlessness that is being
perpetuated by members of NMA in the
Health Sector. The laws of the land shall be
our strength, for he who holds the mace of
truth and justice can never falter. We cannot
be intimidated by her Goliath posturing.
(20) NMA says-‘the endless circles of
incomplete salary payment to our members in
many hospital in the name of short falls in
personal cost must stop’. This is the only
legitimate demand out of the 24 demands by
NMA because the labourer is worthy of his
wages. But NMA cannot call her members out
for strike based on this, because she is not a
registered Trade Union but a charity. This
problem is not peculiar to only Allopathic
Medical Doctors but to all personnel working
in the Health Sector.
(21) NMA in her number 21 demand states
‘universal application of all establishment
circulars on remuneration and condition of
service for doctors at all levels of Government
must be guaranteed’. NMA is not justified
here, because this borders on Constitutional
Matter. And the Central Government has
some limits to want they can impose on the
State, bearing in mind that we are practicing
a Federal System of Government, where
power is shared among the three tiers of
Government, the Federal, State and the Local
Government. NMA members should come to
terms that they are the employee and not the
employer. It is very interesting to note, that
NMA who champions the lost battle, insists
that the approved Scheme of Service/
circulars of other healthcare workers will
never be implemented is the one now
agitating that even things not given by any
Scheme Service/circular must be
implemented.

( THE ENTRY POINT OF HOUSE OFFICER
TO BE ON COMMESS 1 STEP 4
This level is equivalent to grade level 10
steps 4. On what is this agitation predicated
on, when such entry point is not supported
by any Scheme of Service, used as one of the
criteria for appointment into the Public
Service of the federation? It should be noted
that house officers are intern or Pupil Medical
Doctors. There is no intern in Nigerian that
enters the service on step four. Moreover,
steps are indicators of the level of experience
or years the person /officer have spent on
that grade level. On what criteria is a
neophyte/green horn in his profession placed
on step four? What you have is either step
one or step two. Government should not
accede to this demand that undermines
ethical procedural practice in the Public
Service.
(9) CLINICAL ALLOWANCES FOR HONORARY
CONSULTANTS TO BE INCREASED BY 90%
OF CONMESS.
Early this year, under the immediate past
President of NMA, Dr Enabulele, NMA had
had an upward salary increase for their
members. Not up to 5 months, NMA is now
calling for another bloated allowance. Note
that consultants are meant to render quality
service as Attending Physicians, but what do
we see daily in our hospitals? Most of the
times, the “consultants/honorary
consultants” are never around. Yet they want
to be paid such a jumbo allowance. Those
that are around, work four times in a month,
having one clinic day in a week.
(10) NMA, with the huge sum they are paid,
still wants adjustment in their specialist
allowance to be paid to all doctors on
CONMESS 3 and above, and must be paid its
equivalent that is not less than 50% higher
than what is paid to other Health Workers.
How can NMA be the one to decide what
other Health Workers get? NMA should go
and read the Parable of one Talent Payment.
(11) NMA is calling for Government to pay
her members 100,000 naira every month as
just hazard allowance. How can NMA be
demanding for such, despite all she is already
receiving? She is being too selfish/greedy in
her demands. Even other workers with worse
occupational hazards are not receiving such.
(12) NMA insists on immediate release of
circulars on rural posting, teaching and other
allowance which must include House Officers.
Since 2009 NMA and her members have been
collecting teaching allowance even though
that teaching allowances as approved by the
Government was for very Senior Medical
Doctors (Consultants and very Senior
Registrars)that are involved in teaching of
doctors in training, especially the junior and
senior interns. House officers are the junior
interns while Resident doctors are senior
interns doing a student fellowship to become
a specialist .Now NMA is agitating that the
interns who are still doctors in training should
be paid teaching allowance. House officers
and resident doctors by government circulars
are not entitled to this payment; it is because
of them that Government is paying the
teaching allowance. How can the doctor in
training be asking for teaching allowance
when he is a trainee, and who is he teaching?
Since the approval in 2009 and full
implementation in 2010, House Officers and
Resident Doctors who are NMA members,
have been fraudulently collecting huge
monthly teaching allowances which they are
not entitled. There is no government circular
or template that approved such payment. It
was in this year 2014, that the Government
through the Call Budget Circular from the
Ministry of Finance opposed and stopped the
payment of teaching allowance to interns.
For five years members of NMA who were not
entitled to teaching allowance have been
defrauding the Government. He who comes
to equity must come with clean hands.
(13) NMA calls for immediate withdrawal of
CBN circular authorizing the Medical
Laboratory Science Council of Nigerian
(MLSCN) to approve licenses for the
importation of in vitro diagnostics (IVDS). It is
so petty that NMA is going on strike because
the Federal Government (which means well
for Nigerians), has taken the bull by the horn
to making sure that fake/ substandard
diagnostic consumables are removed from
the system, by effectively empowering
MLSCN-the Agency who has the statutory
function to do this job. Sections 4b, and 4e
of MLSCN act 11 2003 provides- the function
of the board are
(B) Regulate the Practice of Medical
Laboratory Science in Nigerian.
(c) Regulate the production, importation,
sales, and stocking of diagnostic reagents
and chemicals.
Section 19 of the MLSCN act mandates
MLSCN Board to also make rules. Section
19(d) goes thus-the board may make rules
for the maintenance of good standard of
Medical Laboratory practice and services
with respect to the regulation and control of
private practice including statutory
inspection, approval, and monitoring of all
Medical Laboratories including those
adjoined to Clinics, Private and Public Health
Institutions. Instead of NMA to partner with
MLSCN to kick fake diagnostics out of
Nigeria, she is out there encouraging
quackery and fighting a lost battle by being
anti-Establishment.
(14) NMA wants immediate release of
circular on retirement age. Dear Nigerians by
increasing retirement age from 60 to more
years how will it bring better productivity in
the health sector? When within the next ten
years of a doctor starting work ,he can get to
the zenith of his career which work will he be
doing? And when most of our consultants are
part time doctors because they work and
have Clinics days only once a week.

(3) NMA DEMANDS THAT GRADE LEVEL 12
SHOULD BE SKIPPED BY DOCTORS.
This demand is not in line with Government
approved Scheme of Service for Doctors.NMA
in her usual falsehood has always accused
JOHESU members of skipping when in actual
sense there is nothing like that. The term is a
misnomer this is because skipping is when a
Civil Servant moves from a grade level to a
higher grade level that is not provided for in
the Scheme of Service e.g. when a worker
moves from 8-10 and there is no approval for
such a special promotion ,this is skipping.
But when you move from 10- 12 this is not
skipping because this is provided in the
Scheme of Service and there is no level 11 in
the Scheme of Service. A baby physician
enters the Service on level 12, which is a
principal grade. Now NMA is insisting that
they must be appointed on level 13, which is
an Assistant Chief Cadre. Haba! How can a
beginner enter the Civil Service on an
Assistant Chief Cadre? There is no Nigerian
worker that enters the Service on such grade.
There is no Nigerian Civil Servants that skips.
This is not provided in any known Nigerian
scheme of Service.
(4 ) APPOINTMENT OF OTHER MEDICAL
PERSONNEL AS CONSULTANTS.
NMA is threatening to go on strike because
the Government has chosen to obey Court
judgment in favour of other Health Personnel
that they can also be appointed as
consultants in their chosen field. In a false
sense of well being, NMA insists that they
own the patients and as such only the
medical doctor can be called a Consultant.
Nobody owns the patient; rather the patient is
the epi-centre of Healthcare Service. Medical
doctors are just one of the professional
skilled healthcare attendants in a hospital,
attending to the healthcare needs of the
patient. Each medical personnel are given a
license to practice their chosen field. The
various scheme of Service for Pharmacists,
Physiotherapist, Nurses, Medical Laboratory
Scientists etc provides that they can be
appointed as consultants. All over the world,
it is not only Allopathic Medical Doctors that
are appointed as consultants. A simple
google search will show that there are
different consultants in the Health Field. The
word consultant is not an exclusive term to
designate Allopathic Medical Doctors who are
specialists. William A .Cohen, PhD, in his
bestselling book “How to Make It Big as a
Consultant” has this to say on pages 2 and
3. “Consultants operate in many different
fields. Import-export, management, human
resources, engineering, and marketing are
some of the more common ones. There are
consultants in archeology and consultants in
clothes selection. There are even consultants
to help authors overcome writer’s block.” On
page 3 he has this to say. “A consultant is
simply anyone who gives advice or performs
other services of a professional or a
semiprofessional nature in return for
compensation”. NMA wants to stop working
because other Healthcare Personnel are
appointed as consultants. Is NMA saying that
they are the only Professionals in the Health
Field?
(5) RELATIVITY IN HEALTH SECTOR
On what basis is NMA still agitating for
relativity when at the point of entry this has
been taken care of and resolved based on
the number of years one spends in school.
Those who spend four years have their entry
point as level 8,those that spend five years
on level 9 ,those that spend five years with
one year of internship on level 10,while those
that spend six years with one year internship
on level twelve. The agitation for the so called
relativity is discriminatory and violates the
Nigerian Constitution as stipulated in section
34-(1). NMA insisting that this must be
sacrosanct in the Health Sector is on what
basis? It should be noted that members of
NMA are just employees of the Government,
just like every other Civil Servant, and as such
no employee determines what another
employee is to be paid. It is never done
anywhere in the world. This is a sense of
megalomania, and so this jack of all trade
mentality must stop.
(6) NATIONAL HEALTH BILL.
NMA is calling for the implementation of the
National Health Bill which has been shown to
contain a lot of clauses that are anti-people.
Many professional Associations, Civil
Societies and well meaning Nigerians have
called for the removal of these obnoxious
sections of the Bill. But NMA in the bid to
actualize her set selfish agenda has refused
to give good reason a chance. Again some
part of the Bill undermines the Nigerian
Constitution in use in a Federal System of
Government. No Nigerian Health Worker is
against having a Health Bill but all we are
saying is that in order to meet Government
set objectives to enhance the total wellbeing
of the citizenry the obnoxious sections has to
be expunged.
(7) THE APPOINTMENT OF SURGEON
GENERAL.
This office is not created by law. There is no
Nigerian statute that says that we must have
the office of the Surgeon General. Creation of
this office will lead to more agitation and
anarchy in the Health Sector which is already
polarized. Every professional group will be
agitating for the creation of X-general, e.g.
Pharmacist general, Nurse general,
Optometrist general, Radiographer general,
Physiotherapy general, Dietician general;
Medical laboratory scientist general etc. The
creation of this post will lead to more
problems in the health sector. Secondly of
what role and benefit is the office of the
Surgeon general when we already have two
Ministers of Health and there are many
Directors also having such functions?

NMA AND HER EGOCENTRIC DEMANDS: THE
HEIGHT OF GROSS LAWLESSNESS,
IMPUNITY & BLACKMAIL
BY
BENJAMIN CHUKWUNONSO AJUFO
In an open letter written to the secretary to
the Federal Government of Nigeria, Senator
Anyim Pius Anyim, on the 10th of June and
sent to him on the 11th of June 2014, the
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) under
the leadership of Dr. Kayode Obembe as
President and Dr. Adewumi Alayaki as
secretary had written 24 demands that must
be urgently met. They have given the
Government a 14-day ultimatum, failure of
which NMA would call her members out on
an indefinite strike nationwide. NMA is made
up of ASSOPON- Association of Pathologist
of Nigeria, MDCAN - Medical and Dental
Consultants of Nigeria, ARD-Association of
Resident Doctors and smaller sister
Associations, who are doctors in public and
private practice. For many years, Allopathic
Medical Doctors in Nigeria have always
hoodwinked the Government and the general
public, through falsehood and blackmail.
They have coerced the Government to take
unfavorable decisions which have always
been detrimental to the health sector and the
Nigerian populace. They have continually
done this as a result of the structural injustice
that has been perpetuated by many members
of NMA in high places in Government. They
undermine the laws setting up the hospital
system, the Public Service Rules and above
all the constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. At this juncture let us have a critical
look at those demands.
(1) APPOINTMENT OF THE POST OF THE
DEPUTY CMAC IN HOSPITALS. In line with
the University Hospitals (reconstruction of
boards) cap U15, LFN 2004 commonly called
decree 10 of 1985 which governs Hospital
practice in Nigerian, there is the office of the
CMAC but it never provided for the office of
the DCMAC. In section 4, it provides thus;
“there shall be for each Hospital, a Chairman
of the Medical Advisory Committee who shall
be appointed by the Board and responsible to
the Chief Medical Director for all the Clinical
and Training activities of the Hospital”.
Section 2i provides that; the CMAC is a
member of the board. There is no place in the
organic law setting up the hospital that
created the office of the DCMAC and there is
no place it says that only Allopathic Medical
Doctors should be appointed as such. Yet
NMA is insisting that the Government must
appoint four DCMAC in every Teaching
Hospital and three in every Federal Medical
Centre. All along, Boards of Hospitals as a
result of threats from NMA have been
allowing this illegal office to be used to
undermine statutory approved Scheme of
Service of other professional groups. The
Public Service Rule in section 1-general in
160101 provides; ‘A Parastatal is a
government-owned organization, established
by statutes to render specified service(s) to
the public. It is structured and operates
according to the instrument establishing it
and also comes under the policy directives of
government. In line with 160201 (a) statutory
boards/council shall set operational and
administrative policies in accordance with
government policy directives and supervise
the implementation of such policies. A
situation where Allopathic Medical Doctors in
Nigeria wants the Government to continue to
create post and responsibilities not backed
by statutes undermines the principles of good
governance. It is gross violation of the law
setting the Government owned institution.
Moreover, it is trite law that you cannot add
to a statute. That will be ultra verse.
(2) NMA IS OPPOSED TO THE APPOINTMENT
OF DIRECTORS IN HOSPITALS. It should be
noted that this statement is laden with deceit
as postulated by NMA, that having Directors
in hospitals will affect patient care negatively.
This is fallacy of the highest order. The truth
of the matter is, NMA does not want
professional departments as directorates in
the various Scheme of Service, rendering
professional duties like the department of
Pharmaceutical Services headed by the
Director of Pharmaceutical Services who is a
Pharmacist. Department of Nursing Services
under the Director Nursing Services, who is a
Nurse. The Department of Medical Laboratory
Services under the Director of Medical
Laboratory Services, who is Medical
Laboratory Scientist etc.And all are
answerable to the Chief Medical Director. It
should be noted that, NMA and her members
were the ones who negotiated their present
Scheme of Service that all their members can
rise to level 17 without being called Directors.
Other Healthcare Personnel have continued
to follow their own Scheme of Service where
only one person gets to level 17 and is
designated the Director, which is the most
popular path in the Public Service. Again in
the criteria for employment as stated in the
Public Service rule in 020205,-“to be eligible
for appointment into the federal Public
Service, every applicant must 020205(e)
possess requisite qualification as provide in
the Scheme of Service.” The Scheme of
Service of all other Healthcare Personnel in
the hospital provides for a Directorate
system. Now NMA and her members want to
go on strike for Government to jettison the
Public Service Rule which is a Government
Policy Document. The Scheme of Service for
Allopathic Medical doctors provides for a non
Directorate system. AND NO PROFESSIONAL
GROUP IMPOSES HER OWN SCHEME OF
SERVICE ON THE OTHER. SECONDLY NO
EMPLOYEE DETERMINES THE CONDITION OF
SERVICE OF ANOTHER EMPLOYEE. They are
agitating for this in order to entrench
professional imperialism, so that all other
healthcare staff will not reach the zenith of
their career. That is the singular reason, a
doctor on level 15 is called a Head of
Department heading someone already on
level 17 and is designated a Director .This is
gross absurdity against the Public Service
Rule. There is no Government Institution in
Nigerian where such is seen, only in our
Hospitals. And that is what NMA wants to
perpetuate. Rule 160103 of the Nigerian
Public Service Rule provides –“Parastatals
are to retain and improve existing rules,
procedures and practices in their
establishments and ensure that there are no
deviations from the general principles
contained in the Public Service
Rules………………………………however in the
absence of internal rules and regulations on
any matter, the relevant provisions of the
Public Services Rule shall apply”. This can
also be seen in section 5(5) and 17 of the act
governing hospital practice in Nigeria. NMA’s
demands are anti- Public Service Rule.

citizenisb: may we pray that evil BH does not strike again in Abuja before all you rats ranting understand the importance of doctors in your lives.

doctors are the best paid in the States because they value life and if we are so incompetent why do Nigerian trained doctors get frequently poached to work in the US and UK health sectors

You can as well start the bombing or carry gun to the nearest market and shoot as many as you can for us to know the importance of durstors.

Must you always reason with your anus?

Smooth278: The lab instruments in question are things for IVF in-vitro fertilization which is done by Drs and only doctors, so y do u call them greedy when someone wants to use politics to give the importation rights to another group who don't have any business with them...

Pls always seek for clarification when in doubt...

Mr man, obviously you don't know nothing. is IVF in-vitro fertilization same as in-vitro diagnostics (reagent test kits,
chemicals and equipment) Anyway, CBN has asked you to go to court.You can approach the nearest one.

Naija Durstors!

So, I am addicted to nairaland...... I need help!

what you can ask google, why wasting your mb here

no be this ambrose alli guy be dat?

we need to get something right here, you did not have sex (with him) while courting but you were sexually active (with who) before you got married. meaning you have been getting BIG ONES around.
Na God catch you o, so carry your cross.
Or, go back to your ways of getting " big ones"
ashewo oshi!

prophecy indeed!

Alleged incompetence: Ebonyi health workers call
for minister’s sack
by ALIUNA GODWIN on Aug 26, 2013 |
Posted under National Mirror News paper
Health workers in Ebonyi State have called for
the immediate sack of the Minister of Health,
Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, over incompetence.
The call followed the allegation that the minister
had been playing politics with the health of
Nigerians.
The workers claimed that the since the Chukwu
was appointed minister, there had been troubles
and conflicts in the health sector.
The health workers recalled that Prof Chukwu
was sacked as the Chief Medical Director of the
Ebonyi State Teaching Hospital by Governor
Martin Elechi as a result of his incompetency.
They, however, urged President Goodluck
Jonathan to sack Chukwu for the same reason to
“avoid further damage to the health sector.”
Addressing journalists at a press conference in
Abakaliki, Chairman, Medical and Health
Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Ebonyi
State chapter, Mr. Ikechukwu Nwafor, said no
amount of intimidation, threats or blackmail
would stop the union from suspending its
ongoing strike.
Nwafor said the strike would only be called off
when the demand of the health workers is met.
He said: “Health is an issue that concerns all
Nigerians, it cannot be politicised and as a
matter of facts, we are beginning to believe that
the appointment of Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu as
the Minister of Health was done in error because
since his appointment, there have been troubles
and conflicts in the health sector.
“That is why we are asking that President
Goodlock Jonathan should remove him to avoid
more problems in the sector or else the votes of
Nigerians who need a good health will count
even against the President.”
Nwafor, however recalled that when Prof Chukwu
was the Ebonyi State Teaching Hospital CMD, the
state government sacked him. Then, the union
pleaded on his behalf and criticised the
government for sacking him the way it did.
“Even the day health worker, including Chukwu,
went to meet with Elechi, the governor openly
accused him of mismanaging workers’ salaries.
Chairman of Nigeria Union of Allied Health
Professionals, Mr. Obiefuna Okeke, alleged that
health workers were being maltreated across the
country.
Okeke said that everybody in health sector,
including guards and cleaners, are important in
the hospital and should be treated like doctors.
Obiefuna said members of the union were
committed to the strike and would stay at home
for as long as it took the government to
implement the earlier agreement.

www.thenationonlineng.net/archive2/
tblnews_Detail.php?id=63338

Medical Strike; President Jonathan Dancing
Etighi With Our Lives By Fejiro Oliver
Posted By Editor On 25th August, 2013. Under
NEWS
It is a mathematical fact that fifty percent of all
physicians graduate in the bottom half of their
class – Unknown
Just when I was about getting ready for my
afternoon games; an sms rushed in, which got
me thinking that the medical war will go on
nonstop until the citizen and the president do
something about it by laying off the minister of
Health, Mr. Chukwu Onyebuchi or acceding to
JOHESU request. I wasn’t thinking because it
was the first sms of the day over my last write up
on the medical strike.
READ: Nigeria Medical Workers Strike; Let Us All
Die! By Fejiro Oliver
As a matter of fact, it wasn’t among the first 100
sms and definitely not among the over 480 mails
received at that moment, but because I
concluded that I have finally known the reason
for the power tussle in the volatile health sector.
The message came thus: “Doctors are the
academics in the health sector, while your so
called health workers-many of them-semi-educa
ted are the non academic staff. In all jobs, only
certain cadre of workers become CEO. For
instance, the academics in the university, the
engineers in NNPC, Judges in judiciary. That is
why doctors are CMD in hospitals. You claimed
you are a journalist. Perhaps a secretary is the
EDITOR of your newspaper! You are one of those
jealous of doctors. Your article revealed that.” He
ended. This is definitely what they are made to
believe during their housemanship and
internship. If this is so; the medical sector is
dead. With supposed physicians that think like
this, the medical rofession is in peril. Let’s
analyze.
All over the world, there are only three group of
medical profession(I stand to be corrected) that
are ascribed the title ‘doctor’ namely; doctor of
medicine, doctor of physiotherapy and doctor of
dentistry, but this piece is narrowed down to
doctor of medicine. When I set out to write
‘Nigeria Medical Workers strike; let us all die’, I
wasn’t expecting the kind of controversy and
buzz as it has generated home and abroad.
Certainly I was threading where angels fear to
tread as revealed by Nigerian Medical
Association (NMA) members who have called
and sent mails. Their various comment
suggested that I was threading on a dangerous
path and should not be the one to open the
public eye to the politicking in the health. Sorry
my dear family members who are part of NMA;
the truth must be told. Our dear friend called
other medical graduates “semi-educated’, a
pitiable summary of their reason for going on
strike, so he sees it. Can a pharmacist who
manufactures the drugs which they in the doctor
category prescribe be a semi illiterate, and yet
they ask the public to take the drugs? Can a
radiographer who do all the scan work in the
hospital be an illiterate and yet they the so called
‘doctors’ begin treatment, while dependant on
the scan produced by the radiographer? Is the
medical lab scientist an illiterate when he
diagnosis the cause of an ailment through his
series of test carried out by him that the
physicians used in working? Is the nurse truly
semi- literate when a patient hope of recovery
depends on him/her? Bring them on; is the
optometrist a semi illiterate when patients with
various eye problems seek his medical solution?
Who then is the semi illiterate; the man who calls
himself a doctor but cannot begin treatment until
a test is carried out, or the man who diagnoses
and refers the patient to any of the three
doctors? Is it the man who forgets a scissors or
cotton wool inside a patient body, stitch it up
only for the patient to die later? Let the public
judge.
I don’t know the school our doctors went to but
the schools in Nigeria and abroad that I have
been to bears school of health sciences, faculty
of health sciences or college of medicine and all
the various medical departments are in these
departments. It’s befuddling to say that an
insignificant department that cannot operate
alone be allowed to be a CMD. A professor of
medicine who called from the USA to lend his
voice aptly noted that hospitals are left in the
hands of health administrator not clinicians. Can
someone sing to the heavens to this ‘doctors’
that they have no business heading a hospital
and if they should head, that any of the medical
profession who is most qualified should head.
That a department of radiology, medical
laboratory scientist (which the media
erroneously refer to as medical laboratory
technologist), optometry etc is headed by a
doctor is an aberration, a misdemeanor and
oddity. What then is the use of studying such
course when the practitioner cannot get to the
peak of his career? Let all medical departments
be headed by a graduate of such; not a fellow
who did only few months of residency in it. You
don’t force leadership when a people reject it.
The various departments have refused to have
MBBS graduate as their heads. Must they shed
blood or keep this strike going for all our loved
ones to die before their call is heeded?
In the college of engineering, there exist various
departments, but the civil engineers have never
laid claim that they alone be allowed to head the
ministry of works, neither has the building
engineers say to the structural engineer that it is
their prerogative to head ministry of housing. The
petrochemical engineer has not told the chemical
engineer or petroleum engineer that they alone
be allowed to head NNPC. The land surveyor has
not told the estate surveyor that they alone be
made minister for land survey? Has the quantity
surveyor told the land surveyor that they should
be allowed to be made surveyor general of the
federation? NO! They all know that they are all
engineers and surveyors, but designated
differently for the smooth operation of the job.
Where therein lies this show of pomposity by a
minute member of the medical profession that
they are the owners of medicine.
The public may not know it, but now they must!
The three profession bearing ‘doctors’ constitute
only 30 percent of the entire clinical staff in the
hospital with doctor of medicine producing a
paltry 12 percent. That a group of 12 percent be
allowed to Lord over 70 percent qualified and
worthy medical workers is an unforgivable sin
and injustice to mankind. The academics which
are the brain behind the country do not have only
graduates of educational degrees as Vice
Chancellors, but anybody who is a lecturer no
matter the field of study can be appointed. The
Judiciary which the doctors of medicine want to
emulate is the most professional field in the
world, where universities operate a department
as a faculty. Yet they have never fought each
other that an international law and jurisprudence
judge should not be made a minister of justice.
They have never asked the President to allow
only law school graduates of criminal laws to be
made an attorney general, neither have they
argued that only civil law graduate be made a
chief judge. Anyone of the law profession is
allowed to aspire to be a judge without
hindrances. What then is wrong with our MBBS
doctors?
No medical profession is entirely independent; all
of them are allied to one another; support staff to
each other. Let me tell you an experience. Five
years ago, my cousin who is a doctor of
medicine took me to see his friend who is a
doctor of physiotherapy and was about to wed in
two weeks time. There in the hospital, I heard his
patient, an elderly man telling him that if he can
make him walk before his wedding day; he, the
patient will surprise him. I don’t know how he did
it, but before the end of the two weeks, the man
was hale and hearty, walking very well. I bet you
can never guess this, but the patient was a
consultant cardiologist! Yes, a consultant
cardiologist who has given hope on life brought
back to ‘life’ by another field of medicine. He did
make good his promise as he was a major
sponsor of the wedding.
As I write, in Ahmadu Bello University in a unit
(which I won’t disclose) lies a consultant
pediatrician who has been sustained on
physiotherapy for the past ten years, after a
successful surgery, with many more in the cue
daily for treatment and yet his NMA colleagues
will want the world to believe that they are
indispensable, when actually they contribute the
lowest of medical delivery. I know of hundreds
NMA members whose hope of living lies in the
nurses, DPT and optometrist; yet they refuse to
allow professionalism reign in the health sector.
When doctors of medicine go on strike, they want
my likes to pen reports that will cause
government to hear and attract public sympathy,
yet when other medical unions go on same
strike; their national president term it sabotage,
urging her members to be on duty. They want the
media to be silent about it, forgetting that NMA
strike does not affect every patient as there are
always skeletal works going on by consultants
and house officers. But how wrong he is. In the
field of medicine; you are a clinical staff, non
clinical staff or administrative staff. If this is so,
what manner of argument are they propounding
that medicine practice is akin to a house being
built, where other staff are laborers’ while they
are the engineers. It doesn’t just blend.
Fejiro Oliver is always paid by agents, so they
shout. When I wrote advocating for fair trial to
Ibori, they shouted to high heavens that I was
paid millions by Ibori hatchet men; when I wrote
the APC story; APC chieftains screamed that PDP
is using me as their new media man. When I
wrote against my own constituency, NUJ, for
engaging in unprofessionalism; they say Fejiro
was being used by disgruntled elements and
when I broke the Dafinone’s secret daughter
reports, his hangers-on raised the roof that the
secret daughter, Elizabeth Dafinone has paid me
in pounds since she resides in London. And now
that I have written on the JOHESU/NUPTAM
strike, NMA members allege that I have been
paid and being used by Medical Lab Scientist
and Nurses to heat the polity and cause the sack
of Minister Onyebuchi. If truly I’m being paid for
all the countless reports and stories I have
written for over a decade; I should be flying in my
own private jet, chartering private planes
whenever I go travelling, not boarding a business
class.
Reports emanating from various newspaper
reports, says that patients are already dying,
with many more being evacuated to private
hospitals; yet the doctors are there, helpless with
no solution to the cure as they are handicapped.
Will a doctor of medicine go to the physio
department to treat a case he has never seen all
his life apart from reading about them (that is if
he has ever heard about it). I write with the spirit
of truth and the various media publishers in
Nigeria, London, USA, Ghana, Vienna,
Netherlands etc publish in the spirit of truth.
Nigerians have personally asked that I express
their gratitude to them for being a vessel of
information and making open what the ordinary
masses never knew. I do not just write as a
journalist, but also an activist, who advocates for
the right things to be done and workers given
their due benefits.
Mr. Minister, Nigerians are the ones dying not
your children, they are the ones suffering, not
your immediate relatives. These medical workers
you know as I know do not truly feel the pains as
the electorate, but must they all die before you
tender your resignation honorably? To you Mr.
President, we know you don’t give a damn, but
don’t you also care that mothers will be made
widows, husbands made widowers and parents
who probably have their only child in the hospital
now will become childless? Dear Jonathan, don’t
you care for the loss of loved ones that will occur
as you dance etighi with lives of Nigerians who
you swore to protect? Is the continous stay of
your Minister of Health more important than the
hundreds of lives of Nigerians that are already
dying? The court appeal made by the Minister is
uncalled for, wicked and delay tactics, aimed at
crucifying the citizenry. By the way, what were
you thinking when you appointed the minister of
health and minister of health (state) from the
same NMA? Were you thinking the medical
workers are fools who you can ride on and get
away with? No, dear President! These are
professionals who spent years in the university
more than you; these are the men when my
grandma had back pain that the Onyebuchi
group referred us to, these are the men who
without them, my late grand dad would have
being buried as a blind man. It is these men who
I rush to for test and diagnosis when I feel
uneasy. Oh Jona; these are the very people who
when our relations have gone to sleep, leaving
the sick in the ward; they in their glowing white
uniforms take care of them while the NMA
members go to the call room, sit on the sofa,
crossing their legs, sipping tea and watching
DSTV.
They have not asked for much but harmonization
in the health sector as is done all over the world.
Nigerians are saying, ‘grant them their prayers
that we may not die’. Or have they not elected
you and should be able to tell you what to do? If
you could sack the defense minister and national
security adviser, despite the days of Boko Haram
insurgence, who then is the minister of health
that you cannot show the way out, due to his
nepotism, favoritism, high handedness and
incompetence.
No, I refuse to be part of a cheated generation a
decayed history and a partaker of oppression. I
refuse to be tagged a failure by my unborn
generation, who will question my role in this
moment of history, such as this. Tomorrow, it
just may be my great grandchild fighting this; it
might even be yours. Mr. President, this azonto
dance with the medical profession is enough; this
etighi dance has gone on too long. There is
blood on the dance floor already and the cries of
the innocent patient who may have been saved
by your quick action is ascending and your name
is being mentioned. When the day of reckoning
comes; what would you answer for these blood?
These little things matter….

Laalamed: note that it is minister of justice and fmoh lawyers that advised appeal against the court ruling.
i would advise johesu to wait for appeal court or even supreme court judgement b4 u complain. if ur case has merit then exercise patient.

is that how it works? when a lower court rules, the verdict is disregarded until appeal court or supreme court rules. please enlighten us.

mr health minister, please obey first ( the court ruling) and then complain!