President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the bill seeking the establishment of the Federal College of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine into law.
Designed to be an agency that would have the Federal Ministry of Health as its parent ministry ,the steps taken will strengthen the capacity of the proposed institution and make a proper structure available for the required formal training ground with regard to this important medical input.
The bill was sponsored by the representative of Kwara Central in the senate, Dr Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe, who is also the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, after taking into cognizance the effects of the burden the Covid-19 pandemic had placed on the healthcare system which underscored the need to explore the option of traditional and alternative medicine when it comes to researching into various remedies that can cure major diseases.
While canvassing support for the bill, Oloriegbe had expressed the significance of formulating a policy that would guarantee improvement in the delivery of healthcare services to the people through the integration of traditional and alternative medicine into the national healthcare delivery system.
‘The need to explore the option of traditional and alternative medicine has become imperative in light of our present-day realities, especially the ongoing challenge of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the need to find a cure for it from available local herbs and traditional medicine.
With this bill, the Federal College of Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicine will become a legal institution for the training and re-training of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine professionals in Nigeria and this would enable the implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Traditional Medicine strategic plan 2014-2023.
When established, the College will act as an agent of catalyst, through training, research and innovation for effective and economic utilization and conservation of complementary and alternative medicine; develop and offer academic and professional programmes leading to the award of diplomas, higher national diplomas and other deserving certificates in the field of complementary and alternative medicine and other related courses; organize research relevant to training in complementary and alternative medicine among other objectives’ Oloriegbe had submitted during the presentation of the bill.
The federal lawmaker while emphasizing that the college would enhance the standard of Traditional, Complimentary and Alternative Medicine practice in Nigeria, also recognized its importance in respect of improving the coordination of evidence-based medicine in the field of Indigenous Medicine in the country.
‘It will also update the extent of usage of Traditional Medicine in Nigeria and facilitate the implementation of National Policy on integrative medicine.
The domestication of the training, (instead of spending huge resources to train people abroad) will prevent unnecessary wastage of hard –earned foreign currency which could be put to other essential services. The College would also serve as a training hub for the West African Sub-Region’ Oloriegbe had added.
The proposal was said to have been transmitted for assent after going through the legislative processes. The proposal was presented on the floor of the Senate for the first reading on 19th March 2020 while the second reading was taken on 10th June 2020.
The public hearing in respect of the bill was held on 14th December 2020 and it got passed by the Senate on 29th September 2021 and as well scaled through the House of Representatives on 14th December 2021. The bill was transmitted to the President on 19th September 2022 after which it was granted assent on 19th October 2022.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned this would be the third time that Oloriegbe would have his bills getting the important ‘presidential assent’ in three and a half years having previously secured assent for two of his fifteen legislative proposals, one of which had given birth to the establishment of the Federal Neuropsychiatric, Budo-Egba while the second bill brought expansion to social health insurance to accommodate more vulnerable people and mitigate the financial barriers hampering access to quality health care services- Team@orientactualmags.com
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