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By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
Sixty applicants from the twenty local government areas of Bauchi State have been physically interviewed for selection into the Cohort 2.0 National Health Fellowship Programme under Sector-wide Approach (SWAP) of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
The physical recruitment interview was conducted at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) of the Ministry of Health and Social Development, Bauchi, by a 7-man Committee headed by a World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the exercise, Pharmacist Ibrahim Mohammed, a SWAP Consultant with Bauchi State Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, stated that, “So what is currently happening is the physical interview of the cohort 2.0 National Health Fellowship Programme recruitment exercise. And this is the last phase of the exercise.”
According to him, “The application portal was opened some months back and the interested candidates have applied following the publicity from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the National SWAP Coordination Office. And they have done their scrutiny at that level and to complete the whole exercise, that is why we are having a physical interview with the candidates to assess their competency and validate their documents.”
On how many applicants will be employed for the State, he disclosed that,”So for last year, it was one candidate for each LGA, but three candidates for local government competed. And out of the three, one out of the three emerged as the candidate for that local government and the same thing applies this year. There are three candidates from each local government, making 60 candidates.”
He added that,”Yesterday, we interviewed 30, and today, we are expected to interview 30 making 60.”
Speaking on the roles the fellows are expected to play after recruitment, the SWAP Consultant explained that, “Okay, so the essence of the National Health Fellowship Programme is to build young health leaders in the health sector who will now mediate between the community and health facilities, and in improving the health outcomes of that particular community.”
He added that,”This is an innovation started last year by the Honorable Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate. And I’m a living witness, the fellowship programme has impacted significantly to the health outcome of Bauchi State. I know of a health fellow who developed an application. He’s a computer scientist. He developed an accountability application which he actually launched in his own local government. And we are looking on how we can build on his innovation to have the statewide application that will be applicable to other LGAs.
“And this is just one out of a lot of impacts that the health fellows have made in their communities. I recall one of the fellow in Borno State, he was able to use his own innovation in one community to use their own farm produce for insurance. So that is another impactful intervention by National Health Fellows. And that will go a long way in reducing out-of-pocket expenses,”he added.
Mohammed added that, “You know, we are moving towards universal health coverage (UHC), so that everybody can access quality healthcare service without financial suffering.”
He explained that, “So the interview is a real-time interview, and I believe you have entered the venue, you have seen how we are conducting the interview. Each and every panel member is conducting the interview independently. So by the time you finish assessing the candidates, you send it to national. And it’s in their dashboard, they have automated the process. The successful candidates will be automatically selected based on individual, average individual assessment. So this is what we are doing.”
According to him,”And they have been assessed against four thematic areas. Number one is motivation, leadership and initiative, collaboration and teamwork, and ethics. You know, ethics is very key in the health sector. And not only health sector, I believe even you as a media people, ethics play a vital role in the discharge of your responsibility.”
Reacting to some of the applicants didn’t have NYSC discharge certificates, he stated that such are denying their local governments of representation.
He however stated that,”So, we communicated to national, this is an oversight from their own side. Ideally, we don’t expect to have a candidate at this level without NYSC certificates because it’s purely for graduates and those that have completed their NYSC. So we don’t expect any candidate to come to this level.”
He stated that, “And what they said is, for a situation, if the whole of the candidates from a particular area could not have NYSC, they have a number of applicants that were screened. Then they will go back, to now bring back those that have not reached this level so that the LGA will not be denied that opportunity.”
Also speaking on the exercise, a member of the panel and traditional titleholder of Marafan Bauchi, onetime Grand Khad of Bauchi State Sharia Court of Appeal, Abdullahi Yakub Marafa, stated that, “In the first place, those that have been interviewed are driven from all the 20 local governments of the state. That is three from each local government, making a total of 60, from which we did thirty yesterday, and we are now doing the last part.”
According to him,”This means that every local government has been represented here, where all these candidates are basically now. If the successful ones come out, it means that each local government will be fully represented, meaning that the policies of the World Health Organization (WHO) will be taken to every nook and corner of the state.”
According to him,”This will make a great impact in transforming our health behavior and our health standards. In other words, it will be making our health conditions improve higher and higher. So it has greater impact by this rigorous exercise that we are now making, meaning that every local government, every local corner will be fully represented and will have the impact of what we are doing now.”
The traditional ruler advised those who will be successful to be very diligent in their work, and they should make it very effectively, supervise it physically, not only office work at all.
He stressed that,”They have to go to every corner. They have to mingle with the people in order to make the people accept some of the health policies in the state, because there is a lot of misconceptions, especially in the rural areas, where these field workers mix with our people. It means that they will have those misconceptions carried away, Inshallah.”
Some of the applicants expressed satisfaction with the process describing it as transparent and opened without much stress unlike in other processes.
Abdurrahman Ibrahim from Darazo local government, Bauchi State is a Bsc Physics graduate of Bauchi State University, he stated that, “I am here for the National Health Fellows interview. So if eventually I am selected, I will do my best to contribute to my community because I will be working with my community.”
He stressed that, “Yes, absolutely. I have many things to contribute within my community. Since when I started working with health sector, I was motivated on how the effects of working with the health sectors is. I want to contribute to the grassroots level from our local government.”
According to him,”I want to enhance my leadership skills to our young, our upcoming young leaders in our society. I want to also have the privilege to make something that will be recognized so that when I leave the National Health Fellows programme, it will be remembered.”
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