Health Minister Urges Nigerian Doctors To Acquire More Skills In Their Profession

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has called on doctors to seek more skill acquisition as the best way to be distinguished in one’s profession, adding that continuous education is necessary to be abreast of emerging issues in medical practice.

The minister made this call in Abuja when members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) led by their President, Dr. Kayode Obembe paid him a courtesy call in Abuja lately.
He said, “we need to improve knowledge because it is the extra skills acquired beyond the basics that stands one out of the crowds and to justify their leadership role in the sector, doctors need to be above board in knowledge and dedication to duty.” He inferred that Nigerians need to experience effective and efficient medical care if the health system must be trusted again.

Speaking at the occasion, the NMA President, who assured the Minister of the association’s full support and cooperation on delivering accessible, affordable and qualitative healthcare for every Nigerian without stress on household expenditure, noted that Community – Based Health Insurance Scheme is the panacea for achieving universal health coverage.

Kayode Obembe also appealed to the Minister to ensure the release of Yayale Ahmed’s white paper on the Presidential Committee set up to look into the problems in the Health sector and make recommendations to end the crisis. He stated that this would go a long way in solving the lingering crisis in the sector.

The NMA President averred that there are challenges facing the association, hinting observing the need for a holistic review of the Residency Training Programme for doctors as well as overseas training and relativity / skipping / universal application of the revised CONMESS for all doctors in the country, irrespective of where they work. [FMH]