By Sani Garba Mohammed
The
Registrar, Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria
[EHORECON], Mr. Augustine Ebisike visited School Of Health Technology, Federal
University of Technology, Owerri, and interacts with all students of public
health, and precisely final year students that chooses environmental health and
safety option.
In the
interaction, the Registrar traced the historical background of
environmental/public health practice in Nigeria as a nomenclature that has
changed over time from Nuisance Inspector of the 1930s to the Sanitary
Inspector of 1950s and 60s to Public Health Superintendent of the 1970s and to
the present Environmental Health Officer, which is in conformity with what is
obtainable internationally, discussed the current state of environmental health
practice in Nigeria and what his council is doing in uplifting the profession
to its rightful place in the scheme of things in Nigeria.
He
also talked about the regulatory functions of EHORECON which include determining the standard of
knowledge and skill to be attained by persons seeking to become members of the
profession of Environmental Health Officers and improving the standard set from
time to time; securing the establishment and maintenance of a Register of
Environmental Health Officers and publication of such register from time to
time; and many others as specified by the act establishing the council.
“A career in
Environmental health is both rewarding and challenging” said the Registrar, thus
graduates of the discipline will be very suitably equipped to take on gainful
employment in the following areas, public health related agencies and
environmental sanitation parastasals, pollution monitoring and controls
outfits, disease surveillance units/establishments, research institutions,
public health department of state and federal ministries of health, public
utilities, agencies concerned with food inspection, standards, disease control
vis-à-vis immunization programmes, private establishments and independently
operated laboratories/ and referrals units for the analysis of environmental
samples such polluted water, food [cooked], confectionaries/bakeries etc,
establish private outfits in different areas of public/environmental health
management, and many others.
The council also promised to facilitate employment
of first class graduate of public health in FUTO to augment the shortfall of
manpower.
Students expressed happiness over the visit to
interact with them and find out more about their chosen profession and what the
future holds.
Abea Canice said “Though a new student, but I am
happy to have chosen public health as my undergraduate course, which have many
interventions to offer in providing solution to Nigeria’s health problems”.
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