By Asmau Ahmad
The National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD) has called for probe in the health sector, alleging corruption and embezzlement of public funds. The Association made the call in a communiqué it issued at the end of its National Executive Council meeting in Abuja on Tuesday. The communiqué, signed by the Association’s President, Dr Muhammad Askira and the Secretary General, Dr Ibrahim Kuburi, specifically urged the Federal Government to conduct forensic personnel audit of all hospitals to ascertain their true manpower.
It stated that “the budgetary preparation for 2016 has commenced and there are reports that some hospital managements have started the ugly trend of presenting over-bloated personnel budget proposals in the guise of salaries/allowances of our members.
“This is observed to be a conduit for siphoning government funds and harbinger for industrial disputes.’’ The Association also urged government to capture all hospitals into the IPPIS platform and enroll all cadres of staff, including all categories of doctors to check the ugly incidence of “ghost workers.’’ It called on government to ensure that budgetary proposal by hospitals were in line with the principles of zero budgeting.
The doctors appealed to the Federal Government to appoint someone with broad knowledge of effective healthcare delivery and robust administrative pedigree as minister of health. The Association noted that the sector suffered so much negligence in the past due to bad administration. It assured the commitment of its members to work with the present administration to ensure effective healthcare delivery to Nigerians.
