The process of selection for the new Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Irrua Specialist hospital, Edo State, seems to have been marred by one crisis after another. It was gathered that the leading contenders for the position are been accused of not meeting the criteria or laid down rules for the selection of a substantive CMD for the organization.
According to sources, some of those who have been tipped to succeed to the position have crossed the required age prescription and that security clearance undertaking by the Department of State Security (DSS) has found some of them to be working in more than one places and receiving salaries from multiple sources, contrary to the civil service code.
The latest discovery is coming just few weeks after a group accused the acting CMD of fraudulently seeking to perpetuate himself in office. According to the group, the acting CMD of ISTH was using his powers to subvert due process for the emergence of a new substantive CMD.
The group was quoted as saying, “The recent online publication by current acting chief medical director of the hospital preemptively declaring himself as the substantive chief executive even before declaration of results let alone formal report to appropriate authority by the ministry lends credence to the suspicion of foul play concerning the selection process. We therefore wish to draw the attention of the honourable SGF and the chief of staff to this anomaly and call for an investigation into the cancellation and rescheduling of the process concerning ISTH only as well as the preemptive declaration of self as the substantive chief executive by the current acting CMD. We also wish to draw attention of your good office to the lack of recourse to the security screening of candidates by appropriate agencies by the ministry of health.
There has been some controversy surrounding the selection of a new CMD for the hospital since the position became vacant in early January, 2023, and a panel constituted by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), shortlisted five candidates who sat for an examination covering applied professional knowledge, public service rules and general paper on April 12, 2023. They were all interviewed subsequently.
Some of the aspirants subsequently alleged that some form of manipulation was involved in the process, particularly centered around the chaos that greeted the transition from one administration to another engendered by the February 2023 general elections.