Proposed Amendment to Teaching Hospital Bill Is Dangerous, Says MDCAN

On Thursday, medical doctors who are under the aegis of Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), had opposed the amendment of a bill which seeked to redefine the qualifications of heads of university teaching hospitals in Nigeria.

According to the PUNCH, 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 that is representing the Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency of Osun State, Bamidele Salam.

Among other issues, the bill 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.

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A statement from MDCAN, which was made available to The PUNCH on Thursday, noted that if the bill is passed, it would signal the risks to the running of tertiary health institutions in the country.

The statement read, “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.”

SOURCE: The PUNCH