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- Other medical personnel kick against law
From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri has signed the Medical Residency Training Law 2024, making it the first state in Nigeria with such beneficial law for resident doctors.
The law is expected to improve the capacity of resident doctors, cater for their welfare and ultimately discourage the brain drain in the sector.
The executive bill sent to the Bayelsa State House of Assembly provides for funding support for resident doctors to specialise in specific fields.
The governor commended the House of Assembly for giving the bill accelerated hearing, considering its importance.
He said his administration had always prioritised the welfare of its workers and will continue to provide the enabling environment for resident doctors whose profession is threatened by brain drain.
The Bayelsa helmsman, who expressed delight that Bayelsa was the first state with such a law, promised that every aspect of the new legislation will be implemented.
“I know this is one area that our unionists have been very interested in. Every meeting they have had with me, this issue was tabled and I promised to do something about it.
“I am happy that this went as an executive bill to the state assembly and the assembly expeditiously attended to it, knowing its importance.
“This government prioritises the welfare of our workers. If our workers in the medical profession see this law as something that must be attended to and we agree with them for the benefit of the larger society, today we have put pen to paper and it is now a law.”
He appreciated the medical unions for demanding for what would enhance the status of resident doctors and the whole of society.
In his remarks, the Majority Leader of the House of Assembly, Monday Obolo-Bubou, said the law will build the capacity of resident doctors that embark on regular training to equip the manpower for better service delivery to patients.
Chairman of the House Committee on Health, Dr. Oyinke Godbless, also told Government House correspondents that by the law, more surgeons, anaesthetists and specialist doctors would emerge as a result of the funding the state government would channel into the medical sector.
Meanwhile other medical personnel in the health sector are said to have kicked against the law complaining that it is restricted to only medical doctors.
A registered nurse Comrade Sikpi Linus said the law in its present form is ‘’divisive, segregative, depressive and capable of fuelling an industrial upheaval in the health sector of the State for selectively considering only the medical profession (physicians) for the benefit of specialization sponsorship from the State Treasury while other professionals Viz; Nurses, Pharmacists, Medical Laboratory Scientist, Radiologists and others spend their meager income that cannot take them home for their specialization trainings.’’
Linus, who noted that 70% of health workers that leave the state for abroad are nurses, said the House of Assembly would not have rushed passing the bill into law without a public hearing of all unions in the medical and health sector.
