With Nigeria’s National Assembly at it’s 10th lap , 25 years down the line , after the celebration of the silver jubilee on May , 29 , 2024, the desire to put in place adequate and quality health care services for staffers of the National Assembly has been on the drawing board.
This is at the background of the growing population of the National Assembly which included the 109 Senators and 360 members of the Federal House of Representatives including the over 4000 legislative aides attached to the members of the Assembly.
The paucity of health care services had been the bane of the operation of the National Assembly particularly to members of the National Assembly, staffers and by extension their families which included kits and kins.
The lingering skeletal clinical services been rendered over the years had become obsolete , inadequate and discouraging , desiring an improvement, particularly when lawmakers utilize facilities outside the complex including their families and aides.
In other clime, the National Assembly is supposed to be running a full fledged hospital that is expected to provide quality health care services to all categories of people in the environment, from the lawmakers and their families, legislative aides and their families, and staff of the National Assembly and their families.
Considering the need to tow the same line, the National Assembly management under Sani Magaji Tambawal set the ball rolling by not only employing more health care providers/ workers of all categories , but also extended the clinical services rendered by the National Assembly clinic to run for 24 hours as obtainable in other conventional hospitals.
Having achieved the conversion of part time health service providers at the National Assembly known as “Locum ” who were converted to regular staffers after many years, the management commenced the 24 hours services to attend to members of the Assembly and by extension the entire workforce.
The initiatives of daily services that included daily shifts of medical officers and workers to the National Assembly clinic is a gradual departure and administrative acumen that will gradually transform the clinic into a full fledged hospital.
The 24 hours service been rendered by the National Assembly clinic will encourage staff, their families, federal lawmakers and legislative aides and families will avail themselves of the opportunity of accessing quality health care from the facilities provided by the current management under Sani Magaji Tambawal.
Having achieved similar feat in the area of provision of a standard library for the National Assembly, a departure from the previous one that was provided in the departments of the Assembly, gradually the need to provide a standard hospital for the National Assembly is already in the offing.
The excitement brought about the 24 hours daily operation of the clinic of the National Assembly, will reduce to the barest minimum the general apathy displayed by stakeholders at the National Assembly.
Having achieved this of providing daily services away from the 8am-4pm over the years, it will be a good development taken at this crucial period that will cocoon the psyche of workers of the National Assembly not only assessing quality health care, but easy access to cheap quality health insurance and security.
The laudable decision to run a full time clinic , operational round the clock will not only mitigate cost of drugs currently in the country, but access to original drugs away from counterfeit and fake one.
With 24 hours service running, aside getting original drugs required to be administered on every visitor to the hospital, the room for subsidized drugs to the patients visiting the hospital on daily basis will be guaranteed, just like it was obtainable in the area of transportation of staff from the six area councils of FCT at a highly subsidized rate.
The provision of qualitative health care services by the newly equipped National Assembly clinic through provision of 24 hours services will also reduce to the barest minimum, the incidences of untreated ailments, on the job ailments, quality and original drugs as well as avoidable sickness and deaths.
For Tambawal, the Clerk to the National Assembly, CNA, it was a dream come through with the commencement of daily service at the Assembly clinic debuted during his administration after so many Clerks and presiding officers of the management of the National Assembly.
The unique performance and results achieved during his time, will be a veritable opportunity to continue to support good leadership going forward, with a few to continue to bequeath sane leadership.
ABUBAKAR YUSUF Writes on yus.abubakar@gmail.com.