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CHAIRMAN’S
OPENING ADDRESS AT THE 2011 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON
27TH JULY, 2011 AT KINGSTONE GRAND SUITES, ONIKANGA, G.R.A,
ILORIN
I salute you all. It is one year since you gave us the
mandate to steer the affairs of our noble association. We
thank God almighty who had spared our lives until this time
and we pray to him to grant us many more years in good
health.
We promised at inception to reorganize the Secretariat and
ensure that every member of our noble association is well
informed about events in the association. We were able to
ensure that notices of meetings and important notices and
events were send through SMS and Emails to our members in
the first few months of coming to office. We will very soon
ensure that all members of the association get decision
extracts and detail minutes of meetings sent to them via
email. We have been able to provide members with identity
cards of the association. Those who have not gotten theirs
should please fill the necessary forms and they will get
theirs before the end of the year.
We are compiling a data base of all the Medical Doctors in
the state. We hope to provide a Kwara State Medical
Directory before the end of the year, which will contain the
data of all the Doctors in the State, both in the public and
private sector .This directory will be made available to all
members in the state .We believe it will not only improve
interaction between Doctors but it will also improve
referral systems in the health sector.
It is no longer news that MDCN had made attendance of
Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes a
prerequisite for renewal of practicing license .The Kwara
State NMA had our maiden CME last month and we promised to
organize these programme regularly .We implore members to
attend these programmes so that none of us will be denied
renewal of our licenses because of insufficient credits.
Permit me to state clearly with emphasis that the Medical
and Dental Council of Nigeria will not renew the annual
practicing license of any Doctor without attachment of
evidence of attendance of CPD programmes and earning of a
minimum of twenty points from 2012. This means you must earn
a minimum of 20 points before December this year.
At the last AGM we were mandated to acquire a piece of land
at the New GRA Ilorin for the association’s new secretariat.
I want to inform this noble gathering that we had paid a sum
of one million five hundred thousand naira (N1.5 Million)
for the land; we hope to complete the remaining amount
before the end of our tenure.
We are deep in negotiation with the Kwara State Housing
Corporation, Ministry of Lands and a private developer to
build in the first phase our proposed estate comprising of
one hundred housing units for Doctors within Ilorin
metropolis named MEDICAL CITY. Doctors in both public and
private practice or should register with the National
Housing Fund to benefit from this programme. The Housing
committee had facilitated the distribution of NHF passbook
to members and will commence updating individual account in
collaboration with members’ employers very soon. Members who
had not obtained their passbook should please liaise with
the Housing committee to that effect.
I congratulate us all especially the Editor and his team for
ensuring that the official publication of our association,
the MEDISCOPE is regularly on the stand. Ladies and
Gentlemen, NMA Kwara state branch will before the end of
this year start publishing a Medical Journal .We are seeking
your support in this noble course and in ensuring its
sustainability.
I want to thank the members of the negotiating team
especially Dr Olokoba, Dr Ayinla, the Chairman of NAGGMDP,
his wonderful team and indeed all members of NAGGMDP for
ensuring the actualization of CONMESS for doctors in Kwara
State Civil Service.
Members should explore the Car Scheme for both New and
Tokunbo ones, Dr M.S Ibrahim is in charge. There is a loan
scheme from a reputable Bank that is still on going.
Diamond bank PLC in collaboration with USAID [United State
Agency for International Development] has a credit scheme
focused on businesses operating specifically in the health
care sector. The sum of 32 billion naira had being set aside
for the scheme nationwide. The Medical Equipment Acquisition
Committee should expedite action so that our members can
assess this facility.
We had increase the bandwidth of our website and had paid an
IT specialist to redesign the site. We want to have the
profile of ALL the CLINICS and HOSPITALS, both in the Public
and Private sector, in the state on our website.
Unfortunately, we are not get a good response from most of
the hospitals and we are appealing that proprietors of
Clinics and Hospitals including Heads of Health institution
in the state should fill the necessary forms with a short
profile of their hospital which will be posted on our
website at NO COST to them.
We had partnered with Kwara State TV on proper education of
the general public on health matters by providing speakers
on various topics in both English and Yoruba languages which
are broadcasted weekly.
We lost two of our colleagues this year, Late Dr Hassan A.A,
and Late Dr Abdulsalam A.L, we pray to Almighty God to grant
their gentle souls eternal peace and their relatives, the
fortitude to bear the loss.
Distinguished colleagues, some issues are mitigating against
the smooth running of our association. These issues had been
noted and discussed severally at both SEC and Ordinary
General Meetings .We want this AGM to without further delay
ratify the issue of increment of the monthly deduction of
members from One thousand naira to Two thousand five hundred
naira to take care of all deductions such as Welfare fund,
Physician week and AGM deductions. Another area is the need
for Bye-Law review. There are some provisions in our Bye-law
that we noticed are in conflict with the National NMA
constitution which needed rectification. We also think that
new ideas that will make the association more vibrant and
responsive to our members should be accommodated in our
Bye-law. In this regard we want this AGM to mandate the
setting up of a Bye-law Review committee and sanction the
call of an Emergency General Meeting to ratify these
amendments within 3 to 4 month from this meeting.
I, on the behalf of all members of the State Executive
Committee thank you all for your understanding and support
in the last one year. We hope to continuously have your
support and understanding.
Thank you and God bless.
LONG LIVE NMA KWARA STATE!
LONG LIVE KWARA STATE!!
LONG LIVE NIGERIA !!!
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