MDCAN boss decries delay in constituting Buhari’s cabinet

President of Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Dr. Steven Oluwole, has said that the delay by President Muhammadu Buhari in constituting a federal cabinet is inimical to the nation’s early recovery from the social, economic and political quagmire into which in has been thrown over the last decade.

Speaking in Abuja yesterday at a press conference, Oluwole pointed out that Nigerians had high hopes about the coming to power of President Buhari, except that many hoped he would be swifter in making decisions. He said that by not having a cabinet in place after being officially inaugurated, the current government is on the way to setting a bad precedence which, if not checked, will become a recurring incident in successive government.

“We need a functional government. We have to call on Mr. President, our president, to rise up to the task. We voted for him. We believe he should not lay a bad precedence. Nigerians have very high expectations from him, and when he appears to delay in taking certain key decisions, he indirectly may be setting a precedence for the country, and we don’t want that,” he said.

According to the MDCAN boss, the state of the nation today requires urgent piloting, even with particular reference to the troubled health sector which he said was in dire need of motivation and better funding. He explained that no matter how much government invested in infrastructure, neglect of welfare of medical personnel would make a mince meat of such effort.

While condemning the cycles of industrial actions recorded in the tertiary hospitals, Oluwole noted that the developments have weakened quality of health services. He said the scenario shows utter disrespect for human lives in addition to being in violation of the sanctity of human lives.

He maintained that agencies of government that are mandated by law to maintain order and create necessary platform to ensure compliance with universal rules of the medical profession have failed to discharge their duties as anticipated by law. Oluwole also expressed dismay that the white paper on the report of the Presidential Committee of Experts on Inter-Professional Relationships in the Public Health Sector by the Yayale Admed-committee was suspended. That report, he said, holds the potential of resolving the root causes of most of the industrial actions currently plaguing the sector.