LAGOS HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY HOLDS PUBLIC HEARING ON LASCOHET LAW
The Lagos State House of Assembly (LSHA), on Wednesday, held a public hearing on the bill to repeal and re-enact the Lagos State College of Health Technology Law 2015 and connected purposes at the Assembly Pavilion Complex, Alausa, Ikeja.
The Speaker of the LSHA, Rt. Hon. (Dr.) Mudashiru Obasa, in his keynote address at the hearing, reiterated the importance of health, noting that the LASCOHET Law 2015 which was being repealed and re-enacted touched on the existence and sustenance of healthcare delivery, which is vital to human life.
Obasa, represented by the Deputy Speaker of the LSHA, Mr. Abdul-Wasiu Sanni, stated that the College began in 1920 as a School of Hygiene with the intention to address the health challenges of that time as well as improve the health resources of the State. The institution has, however, gone through several changes over the years in consonance with the public health demands of the community.
He revealed that in January 2004, the reinvention of the College was started by the former Governor of the State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, when he assented to the bill to enact the LASCOHET Law 2004 after which successive governments ensured that the law did not become obsolete through several modifications.
The Speaker said, “The public hearing was meant to continue the laudable trend of paying adequate attention to the health sector by ensuring that the College of Health is not only functional but operates in an effective and efficient way that is comparable to other similar institutions worldwide”,
“The need for modification of the existing LASCOHET Law is very necessary and essential, especially at the present moment, due to the prevailing circumstances occasioned by the global pandemic as well as other numerous challenges facing the health sector in the State and country”, he added.
While stressing that good public health service delivery is the collective responsibility of everyone, Obasa maintained that when the structure, management, facility and other resources are good, the institution will produce professionals to deliver an enhanced and improved healthcare services.
He, therefore, enjoined every participant at the public hearing to contribute meaningfully towards achieving the set goals and objectives.
Earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Education (Tertiary Institutions), Mr. Ajani Owolabi, stated that the proposed bill is expected to replace the LASCOHET Law in order to address the inadequacies in the existing law, as well as give it broader and more elaborate coverage in line with the mandate of the College by providing services in other areas of human health, with practical methodologies useful for the public and private sector.
The Majority Leader, Mr. Sanai Agunbiade, remarked that the 2004 extant Law being repealed and re-enacted was inefficient and inadequate to drive the dream and mandate of the College upon evaluation, hence the need to progressively amend the bill by repealing and putting in a new set of provisions that will adequately take care of the lapses after 17 years.
The public hearing had in attendance, the Academic and Non-Academic Staff of LASCOHET, the Provost of the Lagos State College of Nursing (LASCON), the Provost of the College of Medicine of the Lagos State University (LASUCOM), representatives of the Nigerian Medical Association, Lagos State Ministry of Justice and members of Civil Society Organisations.
