A former President of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr Osahon Enabulele, has emerged as the first-ever Nigerian and West African physician to be elected President of the World Medical Association (WMA).
This feat is the first of its kind since the global body of all physicians in the world was established in 1947 and it puts Nigeria in good light. WMA is the independent confederation of national medical associations with 112 constituent members representing more than 10 million physicians.
Acting on behalf of patients and physicians, WMA endeavours to achieve the highest possible standards of medical care, ethics, education and health-related human rights for all people.
Enabulele was elected in 2021. His emergence followed almost one-week period of voting by participating National Medical Associations all over the world. According to the WMA, his victory is a testimony to his global acceptability and recognition of his many years of hard work within the WMA, his profound intellect, sagacity and excellent performance in all responsibilities assigned to him, and his undeniable progressive contributions to the global body. He was formally installed on Friday October 7, in Berlin, Germany.
Enabulele’s installation coincided with the Annual General Assembly of the WMA, which held in Berlin from October 5 to 8, when both the assembly and German Medical Association celebrated their 75th anniversaries.
As the new president of WMA, Enabulele will be superintending over the World Medical Association during the 2022 – 2023 Executive year. Besides this feat, Enabulele in 2019 became the first Nigerian physician to be elected as President of the Commonwealth Medical Association (CMA) since the body was founded in November 1962. In the same year, he also became the first Nigerian physician to become a statutory Council Member of the World Medical Association, as well as the first Nigerian physician to ever chair one of the only three standing committees (Socio-Medical Affairs Committee) of the World Medical Association, following his election as Chair of SMAC in faraway Chile in the same year. 2019 was indeed a good year for him. He was subsequently re-elected in 2021 for a 2nd term as Chair of SMAC.
