EXPERTS BRAINSTORM ON NATIONAL HEALTH BILL

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
OVER 500 public health practitioners from within and outside Nigeria are expected in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, to discuss the National Health Bill which is yet to be assented to by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The National Assembly had in 2011 passed the bill into law and forwarded it to the president for his assent, but even as president has not signed it, it is generating controversy with diverse pressure groups calling on him to sign it into law.

Speaking to newsmen in Calabar on the activities lined up for the 28th edition of the National Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Dr. Emmanuel Nsan, said it was expected that discussions on the bill might influence the president's perception and fasten the process of signing it into law.