Scientists call for NHS Bill amendment

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By Dotun Ibiwoye Eighteen years after the aborted presidential election acclaimed to be the freest and fairest in Nigeria and won by late politician, Chief M.K.O. Abiola, a prominent member of National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, and a don, Professor Ropo Sekoni, has said  the sacrifice made by Nigerians on June 12, 1993, presidential elections was the foundation for the nation’s democracy . Sekoni , a professor of Literature in English, Lincoln University,  USA, in a telephone  interview with Vanguard Monday, said the lessons and endurance Nigerians underwent in the struggle for the actualisation of the June 12 mandate “made the people to be steadfast and also strengthened our democracy to have come this far.” In his view, Nigerians decided to vote late Abiola in the election as a demonstration of the unity of the country as well as ensuring that Nigerians were allowed to freely elect their own leaders without any interference from any quarters or politicians

BY Chioma Obinna
Medical Laboratory scientists, under the auspices of Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, have called for the amendment of Section 1 of the National Health Bill, saying the bill in its present state  took no cognisance of existing professional regulatory laws and statutes in the health industry.

Speaking to the media in Lagos, National Secretary of AMLSN, Mr. Toyosi Raheem, said the bill would do more harm than good as it did not foster the interest of the multi-professional teams within the health secto.

Section (1) of the Bill, which is the establishment of National Health System, defines and provides a frame work for standards and regulation of health services.

National Secretary of AMLSN explained that section 1 of the bill had already disdained and prejudiced various relevant existing professionals.

further Raheem argued that the sub section which set out the rights and duties of health care providers, health workers, health establishments and users was not only ambiguous and irrelevant but also conflicts with and turns a blind eye on the existing laws that established the National council on Establishment whose functions and powers are by law to prescribe duties and responsibilities for all cadres of workers in the public service through their various scheme of service.

He said: “The Bill will not only conflict with the existing regulatory laws and statues, but will increase the crises in the health sector in Nigeria. Therefore, the victims of this crisis shall be the innocent patients, healthcare professionals and the larger society that visit and patronise our healthcare facilities.”

Raheem who was speaking at a press conference to announce the 46th Annual Conference Medical Laboratory Science Week with the theme: Quartet of Non Communicable Disease- The Panacea”,  said AMLSN support the need for Nigeria to implement a health Bill replica of the practiced in most developed countries.

Speaking, the Lagos State Chairman of AMLSN, Mr. Olawale Oladubu who announced that medical laboratory scientists support the National Health Bill but stressed that the reverse will be the case should the Bill be passed in its current state.

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Scientists call for NHS Bill amendment