By JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
The Chairman, House of Representatives, Committee of Health Institutions, Hon member representing Zangon Kataf/Jaba Federal Constituency, Rt Hon. Amos Gwamna Magaji has said that Medical Directors of Federal Health Institutions should always feel free to seek the intervention of the National Assembly towards achieving aims and objectives which the Executive failed to attend to.
According to a statement made available to our correspondent by his media team yesterday, He expressed this when the committee paid an oversight function to Jigawa State.
“Sometimes I’ll blame you people for not knowing how things ought to be. You keep on relating with the Executive without recourse to the National Assembly. Don’t be afraid. This is another separate arm of government. Nobody will query you for important issues. The National Assembly will not override you and oppose you.
“We have to bring money to this agency. So don’t be afraid. Involve the National Assembly, You’ll write a letter to the Executive, one month, and nothing is done. Please send the letter. As a matter of fact, anything that is serious, copy the National Assembly. Present the activities of his center before the committee,” he charged.
The Medical Director, Federal Medical Center, Birnin Kudu, Dr. Adamu Abdullahi, noted that there were numerous dilapidated infrastructure when he took over the affairs of the center in 2021, which had been renovated at the moment.
He said some of the major projects executed, include procurement of medical equipment and the replacement of hospital beds, which were in use since the 1960s.
“Most of the medical equipment were old, but today we are proud to say that all the hospital beds have been renewed. Almost all the medical equipment in the hospital actually have been changed. And the buildings that were inherited, we have achieved over 90% renovation of all the infrastructure that is on ground. And newer structures such as the isolation, the molecular lab and the amenity have been constructed.
“But one of the problems we are facing now is the shortage of staff to man these facilities. Newer outlets have been opened, but then there are no staff actually to man these facilities,” Dr. Adamu Abdullahi said
He added, “I may describe the backlog of salaries of casual staff as one of the challenges facing the center for long. So making budgetary provisions and seeking for assistance and collaboration with the National Assembly actually is a way out.
“Then we have a huge liability burden on the hospital, including non-payment of our social services for five years since 2017 to 2021. So we’ve written several letters to the Minister of Finance, including the National Assembly during the last administration, in view of these people that have worked for the hospital for five years and they have not gotten their payment. Also presenting the activities of his hospital before the committee”.
On his part, he Chief Medical Director, Rashid Shokwani, Teaching Hospital Dutse, Professor Mohammed said that they have been interacting with stakeholders to sensitize them on the importance of the teaching hospital since he assumed duty, while executing seven projects for the development of the hospital.
“One major problem is that even though the federal government has taken over the hospital, yet all the staff have not been absorbed into the federal civil service and this has been giving us a lot of concern.
“We thank the state government under the leadership of Alhaji Umaru Namadi, that they have been paying the salaries of the staff.
” If they have not been paying, how could we run the hospital?” He queried.
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions, Rt Hon Amos Gwamna Magaji, was accompanied by members of the committee, while the two medical directors were accompanied by their management teams.
