Rivalry between MDCAN and other Health Professionals deepens as they engage in war of words

The long-age rivalry between the Medical and Dental Consultants' Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) and other health Professionalsl could be said to have reached its crescendo as the the Professional bodies have recently engaged in a war of words.

The current upheaval is triggered by a Bill currently before the House of Representatives, sponsored by Hon. Bamidele Salam, representing Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore Ejigbo Federal Constituency of Osun State, South-West Nigeria.

The Bill, entitled, "Bill for an Act to amend the University Teaching Hospitals (Reconstruction of Boards etc) Act Cap U15 LFN 2004, seeks among other things, to 

1. Change the nomenclature of the Head of Tertiary Health Institutions in Nigeria from Chief Medical Director 

2. Redefine the qualification of the Head of Tertiary Hospitals 

3.  Provide a definite tenure of office for the Heads of Tertiary Hospitals 

4. Include students of Health Sciences in the training 

programmes of Tertiary Hospitals 5. Include hospitals established post-enactment of the 

extant legal framework in the schedule and for other related matters 

6. Restructure the 

composition of the Governing Boards of the Federal Government Tertiary Hospitals. 

However, the MDCAN described the Bill as obnoxious sponsored by alleged group of workers within the Federal Tertiary Hospitals in the country who MDCAN said  were hell-bent on destroying these Hospitals due to their perennial, insatiable quest to take over the Federal Tertiary Hospitals from the back door. 

In a statement by Dr. Victor  Makanjoula and Dr. Yemi R. Raji, President and Secretary of MDCAN respectively, MDCAN however, expressed its conviction that the National Assembly, relying on 

global best practices, would not align with what it called, forces of anarchy to destroy the country’s 

already beleaguered health sector.

"We would like to put it on record that passing this Bill portends serious present and future 

risks to the effective running of the Federal Tertiary Hospitals with consequential poor outcomes for the Nigerian patients who go to these hospitals with the hope of getting the best of care. 

"A bit of the history of the Medical and Dental profession and how the allied health care professionals were established would explain the rationale behind the age�long tradition of having the Medical and Dental Professionals as the best fit for the management of our hospitals".

MDCAN posited that the training of the Medical and Dental Professional gives 

him/her a holistic view of all aspects of patient management, as well as the administration of the hospital towards achieving that priority, which is the patient care. 

It also reminded the sponsor of the Bill that running a tertiary hospital, 

anywhere in the world, has never been a popularity contest, just as no military establishment has ever left its commands (like the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air 

Staff, Chief of Naval Staff or Chief of Defence Staff) in the hands of non-combatant support staff because of their possible numerical advantage. 

According to MDCAN, due to their holistic training and exposure, military personnel will always lead a military mission, just as the 

judiciary is always led by a trained lawyer and not any non-lawyer, warning that the passage of the Bill remained a recipe for disaster in the running of Federal Tertiary Hospitals.

"Based on what we know, we will blame ourselves if we stay by and watch the Nigerian health sector retrogress as a result of insatiable quests by an amorphous amalgam of power-seeking health care workers. 

"There is a growing body of evidence, the world over, to show that Physician-led hospitals are better managed with measurable 

advancement in all aspects (patient care, infrastructure development and economy of the hospitals) compared to non-Physician-led hospitals. 

"Furthermore, analyses from those studies show that h