Bill to include nurses, pharmacists, others in teaching hospitals headship passes second reading

A Bill seeking an amendment to the University Teaching Hospitals Boards reconstitution sponsored by Representative Bamidele Salam Wednesday passed Second Reading.

Titled a ‘Bill for an Act to amend the University Teaching Hospitals (Reconstitution of Boards etc.) Act Cap U15 LFN 2004’, the proposed legislation seeks to restructure the composition of the governing Boards of tertiary health institutions with a view to making them more vibrant and efficient.

The Bill further aims to: “review the terminology of the heads of the hospitals, redefine the qualification of the Head of hospitals, provide a definite tenure of office of the heads of the hospitals, including students of Health Sciences in the training programmes of the hospitals and include hospitals established post-enactment of the extant legal framework in the schedule and for other related matters.”

Presently, the terminology used in referring to the head of tertiary health institutions in Nigeria is called “Chief Medical Director” who is accountable to the Board of the institution.

The current legal regime excludes other health professionals – Pharmacists, Nurses, Social workers, Occupational therapists and physiotherapists, Psychologists, Bereavement Counselors, Paramedics, Dieticians, Lab Scientists’ and Speech Pathologists, amongst others – from becoming a Chief Medical Director.

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The Bill is seeking to address all these challenges and include all other health professionals in the capacity building and administration of the Federal Hospitals in Nigeria and related issues.

Leading debate on the Bill, Salam said the objectives of the Bill include to: “amend the University Teaching Hospitals (Reconstitution of Boards etc.) Act Cap U15 LFN 2004 to restructure the composition of the governing Board.

“Review the terminology of the heads of the hospitals; redefine the qualification of the Head of hospitals; “provide a definite tenure of office of the heads of the hospitals; “include students of Health Sciences in the training programmes of the hospitals; and have hospitals established post-enactment of the extant legal framework in the schedule.

“The purpose of the bill therefore is to strengthen the administration mechanism of University Teaching Hospitals through the broadening of its administrative heads and entrench greater professionalism in the management of our medical tertiary institutions.

“The Bill will also considerably reduce inter-disciplinary rivalry within the teaching hospitals by ensuring that all critical stakeholders are involved in the composition of the Boards of the teaching hospitals.

“This Bill is in tandem with global best practices with special references to the United Kingdom, United States of America and other countries where medical training has been successfully implemented through collaborative efforts of all practitioners.”