The Joint Health Sector Unions on Tuesday insisted that the headship of public hospitals in the country should not be the exclusive right of medical doctors. They also faulted the claims by the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, and the Nigerian Medical Association that their recent protest in which they called for the minister’s sack was political and amounted to blackmail. According to them, their agitation is in line with industrial relations practices worldwide. But Chukwu, while reacting to the health workers’ demand in an interview with our correspondent, said medical doctors would continue to head hospitals because it would not be right to impose other professionals on physicians. He said, “The Chief Justice of Nigeria is a lawyer; and the CJN is both the administrator and the technical expert as far as the judiciary is concerned. So, why should it be different in medicine? The hospital is the only place that is totally the doctor’s territory. Every other person there is in support system.” But the joint workers’ union, in a statement jointly signed by its chairman, Dr. Ayuba Wabba, and Secretary, Mr. Yussuf Badmus, on Tuesday, stated that hospital administration should not be the exclusive right of medical doctors alone. JOHESU comprises the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions, Nigeria Union of Pharmacists, Medical Technologist and Professions Allied to Medicine and Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions. JOHESU stated, “A major grouse of our coalition is the continued exclusive role of medical practitioners as the chief executive of hospitals. We have argued in line with international best practices that the skills required for that administrative office are quite distinct from the clinical skills of a medical doctor. “The facts on ground prove that they have grossly mismanaged these institutions because they do not possess the administrative training and experience required for the office. International best practices recommend professionally-certified and experienced
health service/hospital administrators to manage the institutions. “What political motivation could we have had? We are neither politicians nor political jobbers looking for patronage and appointment. There is no partisan leaning or affiliation whatsoever in our coalition. “We are health care professionals and workers interested in ensuring that quality health service is restored in Nigeria and we are determined to dissociate ourselves from the mismanagement of the health sector by Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu and his NMA constituency.” Speaking on the allegation that the protest was to scuttle the passage of the National Health Bill, JOHESU said it was at the forefront of the quest for the bill. It said, “We also played critical roles in drafting the initial bill presented by Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, who was not a medical doctor, but rather a health economist of global repute when he was the minister of health.”
www.punchng.com/health/doctors-must-not-head-hospitals-health-workers-tell-minister/
I wonder why this associations are so after doctors? I personally as a medic totally disagree with them. Pls i want to hear wise opinions on this matter from my esteemed Nairalanders.

Support system as in ? Supporting the doctors or patients? The star of the healthcare system as far as am concerned is the patient. Everybody works to support the patient not any profession.SMH for naija mentality. Mr minister, the difference between the judicial system and healthcare system is that healthcare is a multi disciplinary system, no sole profession should claim responsibilty for what happens. Its only in nigeria that this kind of thing happens, what has clinical skill got to do with administrative skill? Mtcheeewwww

[A major grouse of our coalition is the
continued exclusive role of medical practitioners
as the chief executive of hospitals. We have
argued in line with international best practices
that the skills required for that administrative
office are quite distinct from the clinical skills of
a medical doctor. “

Looking at the above qoute...on is left to wonder in whose interest really is the so called JOHESU fighting? if u said doctors are not trained to head administrative positions...were the lab scientists,pharmacists, nurses, phsical therapists equallu trained? Yet , they are also clamouring to be CMDs...on what grounds? obviously not on the grounds of better admibistrative skills....doctors i ll say are the centre point in the hospital(that is not to say other professionals are not important).
1. we determine who to admit and who to manage on outpatient basis...no admission no work for the nurses on the ward
2. we prescribe drugs...if we don't then the dugs dispensed by the pharmacists ll be useless...we equally determine the kind of drugs that are stocked regularly based on yhe rate of prescription
3. we request for lan investigations..if we dont the laboratory scientist and technicians ll be rendered jobless
4. we also send consults to the physiotherapist or refer patients to them ..if we dont pls tell me what they ll be doing
From the above.. u can see that doctors stand at d centre of healthcare...more so, well trained doctor should be able to do the above to a reasonable extent...afterall when nurses were on strike i was dressing patients wound and doing whatever nurses said they do during their shift...we also ran basic samples like PCV and B1based on the available equipments(we could have done more)...and we never missed the pharmacists except for fear of fake drugs bought outside the hospitals...now tell me who should head the health team?

Just like saying the pharmacist has no business in running pharmaceutical companies. Who else is in a better position to run the hospitals if not the doctors, the pharmacist? Anybody can head the JOESHU since its an aggregate of health workers but they can not expect same to apply to hospitals.

@dr9ce, thank God you have said it yourself that the doctor can not even do a thing on his own. Check out this--you admit patient, nurses care for them, you write lab investgation, another person runs the test, you prescribe, another person dispenses. My question is,what can you actually do on your own without others? Mind you that if the nurses are not in the ward,then no admission,by the way,hope you enjoyed the nurses work? and if the lab scientist is not on seat then I wonder how you intend to diagnose,thank God you said you can run some BASIC test which anybody can d,what happens to the other test you can't run?.you can't just be jack of all trade master of none. And who told you other health workers can't do the doctors work to a reasonable extent? So you see that health care is a team work. Wrt the administrative work, whoever the cap fits should wear it. We have to do what is obtainable in the developed world, no wonder we have been stagnant all this while.
Doctor should head NMA,nurse should head NANNM,pharmacist should head PSN while the the best candidiate should head the hospital pls. Let's stop playing politics with people's lives!

thank u prettychyna...u said we admit but nurses care...can you pls tell me the basis of your care....in short what you call care is basically carrying out the plan written out by the doctor who saw the patient and most of you dont even know why you are doing what u are doing,u can imagine a supposedly experienced nurse telling me that she noticed that a patient being managed for COPD often becomes uncomfortable when the oxygen dose is btween 1-2L and that we should increase it the highest,of course basic medical knowlegde is lacking here...and did i hear u say we cant make diagnosis without tests? ...any doctor that received proper training knows that 90% of diagnosis and differentials are made at history taking..u only need d lab to confirm your diagnosis in a few cases and to monitor progress....and i laughed when you said no nurses no admission...ahahahaha...u an d i know that itz all about protocol...or what do u do other than taking vital signs...administering drugs at intervals...and keeping fluid chat(which most of u fabricate anyway) and doing what you know how to do best, writing nursing process

@Dr9ce,I still can't believe that a doctor can be this myopic. So you still believe in this your know it all philosophy? SMH4U!talking about incompetence,what do you have to say about a doctor that prescribed IV chloroquine for a patient?or one that prescribed ampiclox 4g qds for a minor infection? Or a HO that said you use izal to treat diabetic foot?what do you have to say about the bunch of incompetent doctors killing patients because they don't want to believe that they don't know it or don't wanna listen? Thank God you mentioned protocol,if not for the same protocol and law guiding the health care,you will bear with me that most of the nurses and doctors work will overlap. As for the nurse only charting,can't believe you think that's all a nurse does,we monitor the patient and that is what we write in our nursing process and you work based on the information we give you,well unless you also don't listen to the nurses which is quite unfortunate. My dear,we are also there to catch your mistakes which a good doctor always appreciates The nurse also prevent the incompetent doctors from accidentally killing patients that is why we spend 5years in the university to learn all we know unlike you that spend just 6years learning the work of a doctor,nurse,lab scientist,pharmacist,radiographer,physiotherapist,nutritionist and recently I heard you will start learning traditional medicine(you mentioned earlier that you can do all that remember?)! So hilarious!!real jack of all trade master of none . If you are a doctor my dear ,stick to that and stop trying to outdo others in their field.

@ Drs, Why not incorporate being a nurse, pharmacist and all what not in your profession since you can do all they do.
Doctors trying to make themselves superior by dissing other professions.

Doctors are so selfish, self centred and scared of other hospital team players like pharmacists, Radiographers, Scientist, Nurses and the rest. For instance, if there's no radiographer how will you know the mass to be operated, its size, extent and location. Its as well the same person that gives you confirmation whether what you removed is completely removed.

Mohammed Alawi: Doctors are so selfish, self centred and scared of other hospital team players like pharmacists, Radiographers, Scientist, Nurses and the rest. For instance, if there's no radiographer how will you know the mass to be operated, its size, extent and location. Its as well the same person that gives you confirmation whether what you removed is completely removed.

It appears u dont even know what d job of a radiographer entails...they take exposures and prepare the films...the interpretation and other clinical stuffs is done by d radiologist(a doctor)..what about barium swallow? HSG? and USS? do u do that too.....and did i hear u say that radiographs shows masses? it may, albeit very poorly...USS does it better and this is not done by radiographers and has for confirmation of complete resection of tumours...that is d work of pathologists(who are also doctors).

Prettychyna: Support system as in ? Supporting the doctors or patients? The star of the healthcare system as far as am concerned is the patient. Everybody works to support the patient not any profession.SMH for naija mentality. Mr minister, the difference between the judicial system and healthcare system is that healthcare is a multi disciplinary system, no sole profession should claim responsibilty for what happens. Its only in nigeria that this kind of thing happens, what has clinical skill got to do with administrative skill? Mtcheeewwww

there is no significant difference in the organogram of judicial and health institution. Just like we have lawyer and other judicial officers in judiciary so also we have doctors and paramedics in health sector. The burdens are on the lawyers and doctors as the heads of the respective disciplines. Everybody learn administrative skill and apply at different levels in their profession. Doctors also learn administrative skills and apply it as the head of medical team.

I believe the issue here is more about the widespread misconception that doctors are arrogant and want to boss other health care workers aound....i ll say our colleagues should deal with whatever complex issues they might have acquired or inherited.
come to think of it...if the doctor says 'give iv ceftriaxone xg 12hrly' and you do that( which is your duty anyway) do u see it as he/she sending you on errand or you doing your job?
if i order for blood chemistry...does the lab scientist see it as the doctor sending him on errand or he sees it as doing d job he is being paid to do?
Again what i noticed with some senior matrons is that they bring sentiments of tribe, age and culture into the work place neglecting the professionality with which medicine should be practiced...if i need a speculum and i ask the matron, does she see it as 'how can this small boy b sending me on errand'( which she ought to provide) or she sees it ad merely doing her job?
We can now see where the strife and animosity crept in...though some doctors may be arrogant and rude...itz more of a personality issue, they ll still be if they a hospital cleaners....sooooooo pls stop associating it with d medical profession and go deal with your complexes.

may be i m wrong afterall..but the term arrogance appears ambigous to me as it is being used in this context...i want someone to explain to me exactly how doctors are arrogant with examples...m waiting pls...prettychina and co