- The Nigerian Medical Association and Commonwealth Medical Association calls for presidential candidates to undergo compulsory health tests before elections
- The medical associations notes that this would help reveal the health status of presidential aspirants to ensure they are fit for office
- They urge Nigerians to push for the exercise to be made a part of the electoral process
Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Nigerian Medical Association and the Commonwealth Medical Association have said presidential candidates should henceforth be made to undergo compulsory health tests to ascertain the health fitness of future Nigerian presidents.
The medical groups said thi would help reveal the health status of presidential aspirants starting from next year’s elections, The Punch reports.
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NAIJ.com gathered that the medical associations also said they would love to be involved in assessing the candidates’ health status, asking Nigerians to push for the exercise to be made a part of the electoral process.
According to the groups, they said knowing the candidates’ health status would help to avoid a situation whereby the president’s illness would hold the country “hostage” as experienced in the past.
Dr. Osahon Enabulele, a former president of the Nigerian Medical Association and vice-president of the Commonwealth Medical Association said that his position had always been that presidential candidates should be subjected to health test so that Nigerians would know if they were medically fit to hold the office.
Enabulele said it should be a requirement in the country’s electoral process.
He said:“I even canvassed for this at the National Conference. However, the selfish interest of the political class has not allowed this to happen and so they have been holding us hostage. Nigerians have always borne the brunt of this selfish interest. The case of President Buhari is not the first and may not be the last unless Nigerians push harder and back compulsory health test for presidential aspirants.
“The time has come for us to ascertain the health status of anyone who aspires to lead us. And this is not about a candidate just presenting a medical certificate to the public; medical reports can be purchased. The health test should be conducted by trusted persons and I’ll love to be involved. Though ill health is something no one proposes, at least let’s start getting things right. It’s a way of moving this country forward.”
Recall that during the first two years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, his frequent medical trip to London generated so much controversy amid calls that his health status should be revealed to the public.
Similarly, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had left the country on November 23, 2009, and was reported to be receiving treatment for pericarditis [an inflammation of the pericardium, the membrane enclosing the heart] at a clinic in Saudi Arabia. He eventually died on May 5, 2010.
The President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Prof. Mike Ogirima, in order to avoid such situations in the country again, said: “If Nigerians want us to subject presidential candidates to medical test, we are ready. It’s a welcome idea.
You know recently that the Emir of Kano [Muhammadu Sanusi II] called for a law to compel Nigerian political and religious leaders, including lawmakers and governors, to undertake drug test, saying that he too would be happy to subject himself to the test.
“He said anybody with an element of drug abuse found in him should quickly resign as he is not fit to hold a public position.
“Ideally, if anyone is about to be employed in an organisation, they are subjected to a pre-employment medical test. Similar tests should be carried out on all presidential aspirants seeking to hold the most important office in the country. And the test should be as comprehensive as possible.”
“NMA is capable of conducting the test for all presidential aspirants. We have highly qualified and intelligent personnel all over the country who can handle it. And we also have the equipment to carry out the exercise. If Nigerians can push for it to happen and the lawmakers sanction it, we are ready too."
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NAIJ.com previously reported that the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi ll, called for a law which would compel emirs, governors, politicians and public office holders to go for drug test.
Sanusi while speaking at the opening of a two-day Senate roundtable on drug abuse epidemic in Nigeria, said he would gladly subject himself to drug test.
"When we begin to set this example, the younger ones will understand that if they engage in drug abuse, they will certainly limit their opportunities of becoming leaders.
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Source: Naija.ng