The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ondo State chapter, on Monday, stated that the health sector under the watch of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa faces an imminent collapse due to worsening conditions of medical facilities.

According to the opposition party, only 22 resident doctors were at the University of Medical Sciences University Teaching Hospital, Ondo, as against the previous 150, adding that only one medical doctor was now available in some of the general hospitals in the state.

PDP spokesperson Kennedy Peretei in a statement disclosed that the medical personnel had been leaving the state in droves due to an unattractive package and a lack of implementation of a new salary structure by the government.

Peretei lamented that the state, which used to be the medical tourism destination for people in the South West can no longer boast of such, adding that the rural areas are most hit by the state’s worsening healthcare crisis.

“There are only 22 resident doctors at the University of Medical Sciences University Teaching Hospital, Ondo, as against 150 previously there. The facility does not have resident doctors under training in orthopedics, burns and plastics, ear, nose, and throat, mental health, and paediatric surgery,” he said.

“The general hospitals in Iwaro-Oka, Ipe, Irele, and Idoani, which had at least 5 doctors each, now have only one doctor per hospital, who will be on call duty per week and will still attend to the day-to-day running of the hospital. Is there any surprise then why there are many avoidable deaths in these facilities?

Peretei stressed that “the recently conducted recruitment exercise by the Ondo State Civil Service Commission was shunned by doctors because the entry level for doctors in the state is Grade level 12 step 3 as opposed to Grade level 13 step 2 approved by the federal government, which is applied by other states.

“Doctors in the employment of the state migrate to neighbouring states of Ekiti, Oyo, Lagos, and Kwara that have better conditions of service. Yet, Ondo State is richer than most of these states.

“If within ten months, Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been unable to prove that he is capable of providing healthcare at any level, how does he want us to believe that our people are lucky under his leadership?

“Asking the people for another term in office is an assault on the sensibilities of Ondo State people who have endured his lacklustre performance in the health sector. Ondo State does not deserve this kind of luck that has reduced our medical facilities to slaughter slabs.”