Senate kicks against conversion of PTF to Steering Committee
Senate Committee on Health has faulted the conversion of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to a Presidential Steering Committee by the Federal Government without consultation with the National Assembly.
This came as the committee expressed surprise that the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) embarked on their proposed strike despite what the Federal Government had done in meeting their demands.
Chairman of the committee Senator Yahaya Ibrahim Oloriegbe stated these during a public hearing on a Bill titled: “Federal Medical Centre, Mubi, Adamawa State (Establishment) Bill, 2021” in Abuja.
Oloriegbe’s comment on the conversion of the PTF to a steering committee on COVID-19 followed the submission of the ministry on Bills either seeking to establish or upgrade existing healthcare facilities to tertiary institutions.
The ministry had in its memorandum to the committee kicked against the proposed upgrading of a general hospital in Mubi, Adamawa State, to a Federal Medical Centre (FMC). It claimed that there was already a teaching hospital in the state.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health Abdulaziz Mashi Abdullahi, who represented the Minister of Health, had said there was need for consultation with the ministry before such bills seeking to establish or upgrade existing healthcare facilities are drafted and presented.
Oloriegbe, however, faulted the ministry’s position and insisted that it is the executive that often neglects to consult with the National Assembly before announcing crucial policies or embarking on programmes.
Oloriegbe said: “Talking about consultation, of course, as you agreed and alluded that this (public hearing) is part of consultation.
“However, let me just state as a matter of procedure, just like distinguished Senator (Kashim) Shettima said, agenda-setting is that of the National Assembly.
“But I want to say that we even consult you more in the Executive than how you consult us.
“Because the executive can always say we are the policy-makers. For example, I can make it public, I was listening to the radio yesterday and I heard that the PTF (on COVID-19) has been converted to a steering committee.
“We were not consulted in terms of what will be the operational mechanism and so on.
“I am just trying to say I will have my Clerk invite you (Permanent Secretary) to come and explain to us the process of that response because we represent Nigeria.
“What is the content of that conversion? How will the steering committee work? We were not consulted but we don’t mind. But as part of our oversight, we will come back and ask you.”
Oloriegbe also noted that there are five states in Nigeria that have both a Federal Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centres, some of whose populations and land mass, he said, were not up to that of Adamawa State.
Senators Danjuma Goje and Kashim Shettima supported the Bill to upgrade a general hospital in Mubi to a Federal Medical Centre in spite of the Federal Ministry of Health’s concerns.
Earlier, the sponsor of the Bill, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, justified the need to establish a Federal Medical Centre in Mubi, Adamawa State. Punch
