Revealed! Experts React as Buhari Administration Fails to Appoint Heads of Nigeria’s Tertiary Hospitals

A long time after initially dissolving boards
of federal parastatals, the Buhari
presidency is yet to make appropriate appointments to fill up vacancies.

Shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari came into office just before the end of May
in 2015, he dissolved the boards of federal parastatals.

According to an exclusive report by Premium Times, this action was not unusual of a new administration, however close to
two years after, the vacancies created by the dissolution of the boards are yet to be filled,
showing a pattern of lethargy in decision making for which the president has received widespread criticism.

The delay by the federal government in appointing Chief Medical Directors, CMDs, to
run some tertiary health institutions across the country is generating mixed reactions
among health professionals and
stakeholders in the sector.

Currently, out of the 52 tertiary health centres across the country, about 20 have no CMDs. These institutions have been run
by interim heads for between six months to two years, against the provision of the Acts that established them.

The establishment Acts do not envisage that any of them would be run by interim head beyond six months at a time. Health centres
caught in this breach of law include psychiatric hospitals, Federal Medical Centres and Teaching Hospitals across the country.

Some of the affected ones are Federal Medical Centres in Ido Ekiti, Abeokuta, Asaba, Lagos, Owerri, Owo; Federal Teaching
Hospitals in Abuja, Kano and Maiduguri; and Pschychiatric hospitals in Sokoto, Maiduguri,
Calabar, Lagos; Birni-kudu, Uselu, among others.

In a telephone interview with Premium Times, the spokesperson for Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Segun Orisajo, confirmed that the head of the institution has been holding the office in acting capacity since
June 20, 2016. But he said this has not in any noticeable way affected the activities and smooth running of the institution.

“The acting head has been part of the institution for 25 years and he is currently one of the chief consultants in Obstetrics
and Gynaecology and knows the terrain of the institution. So there is no cause for alarm as the people in the institution are willing to work with him and the activities in the institution have been going on smoothly.

“The prerogative of appointing a Chief Medical Officer is that of the Federal Ministry of Health and I am sure they are already doing something about it because I know they have interviewed prospective candidates for the position and we are expecting a positive outcome very soon. As
for the centre (FMC, Abeokuta), there is no loophole in the system based on administration”, he said.
Speaking in a similar vein, the Chairman of the Osun State chapter of the Nigerian
Medical Association, NMA, Tokunbo
Olajumoke, said although it is true that some health institutions in the country have had no substantive heads for a while now, the situation does not call for alarm as it does not have any effect on governance and decision making in such institutions,
especially when such institutions have boards to regularize their activities.

“I know that the Federal Medical Centre in Ido Ekiti for example is being headed by the former Chairman Medical Advisory
Committee (CMAC) and is the highest officer after the CMD. He has been an acting head for a while now and I don’t see how this should affect the smooth running of the affairs of the hospital.

“The hospital has a board which oversees its activities even with the presence of a CMD and the CMAC is usually part of the board.
And this is not strange because even when the institution has a CMD, its activities are still governed by a board and the Federal Ministry of Health which still oversees the activities.

“To my best of knowledge, all federal health establishments should have such boards
which mean there is likely to be continuity as the CMAC already knows what is happening within the system”, he said.

A medical consultant at FMC Ido –Ekiti, Sam Ukperi, however, disagrees with the position of the two earlier respondents.

He said there is a need for the establishment to have a substantive CMD as this will make
the person accountable to the institution and staff as well.

“There are lots of decisions that need to be taken but because the person is in acting capacity, his authority to do so can be
challenged”, he contended.