Ngige
AS President Muhammadu Buhari appoints his Health Minister, one question that has been on the mind of stakeholders in the sector is, ‘must a medical doctor be the health minister or rather must the next minister of health be a medical doctor?’
The answer to this rhetoric or rather the choice of Mr. President for the next Health Minister may go a long way in determining harmony among the various professionals in the sector.
In fact the situation has polarized the health sector, which has culminated in the formation of the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations (AHPA), the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the National Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP) by the other health workers besides doctors basically to be strong opposition.
AHPA, JOHESU and NUAHP comprise: medical laboratory scientists, radiographers, pharmacists, dieticians, psychologists, physical therapists, optometrists, health information managers, medical social workers among others.
Besides, the medical doctors who believe they are most suited for the position, all the other professionals including pharmacists, medical laboratory scientists, nurses and midwives, physiotherapists, and so on think the position should be given to anybody with requisite managerial and administrative stills not necessarily a medical doctor or health worker.
Medical doctors under the umbrella of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) at the height of the last ministerial nomination and screening had stated that its own must be appointed at the helm of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) because, according to the Association, it is a global practice.
President NMA, Dr. Kayode Obembe, had warned that the next occupant of the office must be a medical doctor. “This is not negotiable,” he said.
Obembe told journalists that other health professionals have the right to clamour for their entitlements, such as increase in salary, but the office of the minister of health was a no-go area for them.
The NMA President warned against the politicisation of the office of the minister of health because, according to him: “We don’t joke with the health of the people.”
Obembe said: “I don’t think the ministry of health should be so politicised. The head of that ministry must be professionalised and must be a medical doctor.
“You cannot say the head of the ministry of justice, for example, should not be a lawyer. It is not possible. The Attorney general of the federation must be a lawyer. So, for people arguing about salary increase and so on, fine, but you don’t go to the extent of saying that the head of that ministry must not be a medical doctor. If he is not a medical doctor, should he be a carpenter or bricklayer? You don’t joke with the health of the country.
“You have to be a high-ranking medical doctor with public health experience before you can talk to the international community and they will listen to you.
“Health workers can talk about increase of their salaries but when you talk about the minister of health, it must be a doctor. That is not negotiable.”
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