Analyst Charges Health Inspectors on Service Delivery in Ports, Boarders

A public analyst, Martins Ikhilae, has called on operatives of the Federal Ministry of Health drafted to the nation’s gateways as Port Health Inspectors attached to the Department of Nigerian Port Health Services to be patriotic in their service delivery.

This, he said, will boost the nation’s social, economic and political development.
Ikhilae, who made the call recently in an exclusive interview, urged port health operatives to place national and institutional interest above personal considerations in the discharge of assigned official responsibilities.
“Port health operatives should strive to standardise service delivery in tandem with international best practices.
“It’s the desire of the nation to parade adequately seasoned medical inspectors that would boost the corporate image of the nation by resisting the embarrassment of international travellers via unreceipted collections”, he said.
He also used the opportunity to challenge the management of the department to urgently resolve the lingering controversies surrounding the seeming undue collection of certain unreceipted fees ranging from N500 to N2,000 as international vaccination certificate endursment fee.
Describing such collections as highly embarrassing and unprogressive, Ikhilae said “I wonder why Nigerian port health officials stationed at the Seme International gateways would be subjecting travellers to economic hardships through collection of unreceipted fees, thereby ridiculing the country.
“The controversial document in question is of the World Health Organisation (WHO) tagged International Certificate of Vaccination easily obtainable from health authorities of the Republic of Benin via similar gateways,” he lamented.
He explained that going by “WHO document on the vaccination, the validity of vaccination certificate shall last for a period of 10 years, beginning 10 days after the date of vaccination, or in the event of a revaccination within such period of 10 years from the date of that revaccination.
Ikhilae, therefore, urged port health operatives to shun what he called “mediocrity” forthwith and embrace developmental and progressive tendencies with a view to boosting and justifying their relevance in ports and land border operations.

By: Sogbeba Dokubo