By Precious Oluwole

The Ondo State House of Assembly has passed into law, a bill seeking to amend the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital (UNIMEDTH) Law, 2019.

The passage followed the submission of a report by the Chairman of the House Ad-hoc Committee on Health, Dr. Christopher Ogunlana, during a plenary session presided over by Speaker Olamide Oladiji.

The bill, which was debated and committed to the Ad-hoc committee after scaling through second reading last week, underwent detailed scrutiny by the committee. Presenting the report, Dr. Ogunlana stated that all typographical errors were noted and corrected.

He emphasized that the amended law, when operational, would facilitate efficient medical service delivery in the state and open new frontiers for medical personnel to explore opportunities within the teaching hospital. According to him, the bill would also create greater access for indigenous students to leverage the advanced medical facilities for academic and research purposes.

Key amendments proposed and adopted in the bill include: Section 6(a): Changing the experience requirement for the Chairman from 20 to 10 years post-registration, with inclusion of expertise in “medical and clinical matters.”

Section 6(g): Replacing “Authority” with “Agency.”

Section 6(h): Reworded to reflect that three persons, one from each senatorial district, shall be appointed by the Governor based on their records in the health sector.

Section 6(m): Clarifying that the CMAC shall be in charge of training.

New Sub-sections 6(o) & 6(p): Including representatives of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and the Executive Secretary of the Ondo State Drug and Health Commodity Management Agency.

Section 17(3): Replacing the existing provision with a new clause stipulating a four-year renewable tenure for the Chief Medical Director.

Additionally, the State Government is mandated to hand over a Certificate of Occupancy covering 7.21 hectares of the hospital land to the Federal Government, to be attached as an annexure to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

The Majority Leader of the House, Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi (Owo Constituency I), moved the motion for the bill’s passage into third reading and final approval. It was seconded by Nelson Akinsuroju of Ileoluji/Okeigbo Constituency.

In his remarks, Speaker Oladiji commended the initiative, noting that the emergence of the FUTA Teaching Hospital would spur healthy competition, generate job opportunities, and boost the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). He thereafter ruled for the bill to be passed into law following unanimous approval by members.