Mading Doctor
Oct 06, 2014(Nyamilepedia) — In the Volume No 8, Issue No 875 page one on the 6th October Instant,I came across the list of the general Medical Council constituted by Hon Riek Gai Kok along with his and only Undersecretary Makur Koryom and then endorsed by the government. The fact is that the Council in the first place is biased and not representative. It is devoid of the world criteria for the constitution of any Medical Council in any given Country.
The author is aware that it was not done in consultation with senior medical specialists but arbitrarily in the premises of the Ministry of Health as their whims dictate and with the cool fans rolling overhead. There is not a single Physician in this council leave alone the pediatricians and even hospital administrators because one of the functions of the Council is administration. Remember, it does not necessarily mean that the council should be made up of medical personnel only. That was an ill-conceived plan.
This is something technical and it does not need an exercise of powers conferred on individuals by the constitution and neither does it need to be done on the basis of who is more loyal to the Minister and the Undersecretary. It is understandable that this council is not fair whatsoever. It is only those who formed the council and those appointed who should fail to discern that it is not representative and unfair. The Minister just appended his signature on the list of the already formed council without knowing who is who in the list except for two or three famous senior consultants. As a practicing clinician in the country, some of these members of the medical council are not known to the author.
Well, the tribal representation is another issue in point. There is not a single Nuer doctor in this council, Has the Undersecretary failed or forgot to tell the Minister who might have not known as power sometimes make people blind or tried to please some quarters that not all the Nuer have rebelled or if it is an oversight, when will it be corrected?
The Author knows quite well that there are senior Nuer doctors in the country and indeed in the Ministry of Health but not even a single doctor appears in the list despite their wealth of experiences in medical and pharmaceutical fields. The other issue is that the council is headed by two surgeons, if I were either the Minister or his Undersecretary, I would appoint a Physician or Paediatrican to either head or deputize. It would have made sense, at least.
This is the only machinery which does not need familiarity or loyalty but skills, reliable and credible academic credentials unlike other Ministries where some officials are either primary school drop-outs or whose qualifications are that they have been in the bush for over twenty years and SPLM allegiance. Here I mean the SPLM headed by the President. Although the dice was cast, this formation of the General medical Council should be scrutinized with some amendments.
