The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has verbalized the post of surgeon-general can only be engendered by the legislature at the federal level.
He verbalized this in an exclusive interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, on the sidelines of the West African College of Surgeons secretariat substratum-laying ceremony in Lagos. He was asked to respond to one of 24 demands made by the Nigerian Medical Association, which embarked on a nationwide strike on July 1, 2014.
According to item seven on the association’s list of injuctive authorizations, a Surgeon-General of the Federation must be appointed with immediate effect.
But the minister verbalized the position was for technical purposes and could only be appointed by the National Assembly.
He verbally expressed, “The position of surgeon-general does not obligatorily betoken it will be for a surgeon. It’s going to be a technical position; someone who is not a political appointee can address technical issues about medicine in the health sector.
“So that one is something that I cerebrate the whole country will decide, either through constitutional amendment or the National Assembly making the opportune law.”
The NMA’s demands were contained in an open letter addressed to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Some of the ordinant dictations by the apex body for medical medicos include the discontinuation of apperception of non-medical medicos as directors, as well as of the designation of consultant for any other health worker other than medical medicos.
Others include payment of clinical obligation and hazard allowances; withdrawal of the Central Bank of Nigeria circular on medical laboratory equipment; recuperation and congruous funding of overseas clinical annexation; and the establishing of a health trust fund to enhance the upgrade of all hospitals in the country.
