And the health bickering continues

Would have thought that with the passage of health bill by the senate, everybody would be jubilant. But No!!! Read below;

Unified action is real

In an exclusive interview with HealthNewsNG.com, Raheem Toyosi, national president of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) said members of the association are concerned about some sections in the bill.

“We found out that the version that was passed by the senate is not the version that was passed by the House of Representatives,” Raheem said.

According to him, some of the sections of the bill that the members of the association are worried about include the portion of the bill that introduces a new framework for the regulation of the activities of health professionals.

He said: “We have recommended an amendment to avoid interference with the activities of the existing councils regulating various professions. If the bill was passed in that form, it would have eroded the powers of other regulatory bodies and people will be hiding under the new law to say other laws are not valid. But what we are recommending is that nothing should be done without considering the laws establishing bodies such as the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLLSCN), the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCAN), the Nursing Council of Nigeria and other professional bodies.”

He also expressed concerns over the aspect of the bill that focuses on the National Health Research Committee.

“Initial constitution of the committee included doctors, pharmacists and nurses, medical laboratory scientists were not mentioned. We have requested medical laboratory scientists should be included in the committee which I think have been taken care of in the harmonized version of the bill,” he told HealthNewsNG.com.

Speaking further, he said the association is not comfortable with the section that gave guidelines on the collection of blood for various purposes. According to the section, blood cannot be collected without the approval of a medical doctor.

He said: “We insisted it cannot stand because collection of blood either for diagnostic investigation or blood transfusion is a major aspect of what medical laboratory scientists are doing. If you say nobody should collect blood without the permission of the medical doctor, it means our colleagues in the private sector will not be able to attend to patients in their labs.

“What happens in the rural areas where there are no doctors but there are laboratories around that could carry out diagnoses? If you are saying no one should collect blood without doctor’s authorization you are eroding the competence of our members. We are saying we are not comfortable with that section. We proposed a review of that section and I believe it has been effected in the harmonized version.”

If the suggestions of the association are not implemented he said there are would outcries from members of the association.

“There will be outcries because the system had been injurious to our members in the past,” the president told HealthNewsNG.com