20th December, 2014
President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday promised that the Federal Government would act expeditiously on the report of the Presidential Committee of Experts on Inter-Professional Relationship in the Public Health Sector.
Jonathan made the pledge when he received the report from the committee chaired by a former Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said an immediate action on the report was necessary to end the frequent rivalries among different cadre of professionals in the country’s public health sector.
The president said the Federal Government would review the report immediately with a view to issuing a White Paper on it and beginning the implementation of its accepted recommendations early next year.
“I had to set up the committee because I am very sad, and I know most Nigerians feel very sad that strikes and unhealthy rivalries among professionals in the health sector have adversely affected medical services,” he said.
Jonathan expressed optimism that the implementation of accepted recommendations would help to stop unhealthy rivalries and incessant strikes in the public health sector.
He expressed regrets about the industrial actions, which he said, had created an atmosphere of uncertainty in the sector, leaving many people with fewer options for quality medical services.
Earlier, Yayale told the president that the committee identified 50 areas of conflict after receiving memoranda and interactions with about 40 professional bodies in the public health sector and members of the public.
He said that the areas of conflict were broadly categorised into nine broad headings namely organisational management, leadership and team work.
Others, according to him, are remuneration and motivation, career management, capacity building, professional practice, labour, legal and governance issues.
Yayale said that the committee made far-reaching recommendations to resolve conflicts in the sector.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that Jonathan inaugurated the committee in 2013 to look at the areas of conflict among different professional cadre in the country’s public health sector.
The committee was also mandated to look at the laws, rules and regulations governing professional practice in the sector.
It was also charged with reviewing existing reports with a view to advising the government on the appropriate measures that would promote harmonious working relationship among public health workers.