Trump wants TV star & heart surgeon Mehmet Oz to fill key healthcare role

United States (U.S) President-elect Donald Trump announced on Nov. 20, 2024 (Singapore time), that heart surgeon and TV personality, Mehmet Oz, would lead the U.S public healthcare insurance program.

Trump nominated Oz to serve as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which falls under the Department of Health & Human Services, as reported by ABC News.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services  provides coverage to more than 150 million Americans, as reported by the BBC.

Trump mentioned that Oz will work closely with Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., who he had nominated as the next U.S health secretary.

Kennedy is an environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist.

In a statement posted by Trump on his social network site, Truth Social, he said, "America is facing a Healthcare Crisis and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr Oz to Make America Healthy Again."

Trump also mentioned in his statement that he has "known Dr.Oz for many years", and he is "confident he (Oz) will fight to ensure everyone in America receives the best possible Healthcare, so our Country can be Great and Healthy Again!".

Before losing to Democratic opponent John Fetterman in his run for Senate in Pennsylvania in 2022, Oz was a surgeon who found fame on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

He would go on to host his own show, the "Dr Oz Show", from 2009 to 2022.

The "Dr Oz Show" has won nine Emmy awards, five for Outstanding Informative Talk Show and four for Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host.

As reported by the BBC, Oz was criticised by experts for "bad health advice" and for suggesting malaria drugs to counter Covid-19 during the early period of the pandemic.

Top photos from Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Donald J. Trump/Facebook