Dr Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health has expressed reservation on the University Teaching Hospitals (UTHs) Amendment Bill, aimed at restructuring the composition of the Governing Board of the institutions.
Ehanire said this at the public hearing of a bill for Amendment of the UTHs Act by the House Committee on Health Institutions in Abuja on Wednesday.
The minister said that the passage of the bill into law would lead to a huge disruption in the health sector.
He added that it would worsen the brain drain syndrome being experienced in the country and lower the standard of healthcare services in Nigeria.
“Rather than this bill, expertise should be placed on addressing the brain drain and improving hospital infrastructure,’’ Ehanire said.
The minister, represented by Mr Adebimpe Adebiyi, the Director Hospital Services, said the UTH was a well organised system under the Ministry of Health with a mandate on manpower training.
He said that the UTHs were designed primarily to train medical students, adding that the Chief Medical Director of the hospital was not only an administrator because he has the responsibility to ensure that standards were maintained.
Meanwhile, Dr Uche Ojinmah, President, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), said that the Association rejected the bill in its entirety.
Ojinmah said that the bill sought to defeat the purpose for the enactment of the principal Act that was seeking to amend.
“It is important for us to know that unlike other government hospitals, UTHs, starting with UCH, Ibadan were established primarily for the purpose of training the medical students.
“Prior to the enactment of the principal act, UCHs were run by directors of administration.
“This caused a lot of crisis as the Directors of Administrations were more focused on the financial bottom line to the detriment of training and research,’’ Ojinmah said.
He said that the principal act made the position of the Chief Medical Director, a full time position to be occupied by a person who possessed professional qualification.
This, he said must be similar to those of the Dean or provost of the associate medical schools and with cognate administrative experience in matters of health.
According to him, the principal act vested the control of teaching hospitals in the person whose primary field of competence as a fully registered medical practitioner and dental surgeon imbued him with knowledge.
This, according to him included legal standing to take charge of management of patients and training of medical student who owned the teaching hospital.
He said that the requirement of the principal act that a CMD must be a person who was fully registered medical practitioner or dental surgeon was not a mistake.
Ojinmah explained that it was not the headship of the teaching hospitals that was the problem, but the state of the nation.
Speaking earlier, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila said that stakeholders views either for or against the subject would be addressed.
He said that it would add to the quality of legislations of the 9th Assembly which it would bequeath to the citizenry at the end of its tenure.
