Edo NMA issues 21-day ultimatum over state of health sector

The Edo State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) yesterday issued a 21-day ultimatum to the state government to address issues of health facilities and general state of the sector.

It is also demanding improved staff welfare in the state owned health institutions or face industrial action in the health sector, which it said, would include doctors in state and federal hospitals.

In a statement by the Chairman and Secretary of the association, Emmanuel Osaigbovo and Harry Omokhua, the body alleged that the state government has not responded to their requests for improved services and facilities in the health sector.

They are, therefore, asking the state government to address the infrastructure decay in the sector and increase the number of health personnel, especially doctors.

The body also lamented that most doctors who were employed in 2012 had left the state government employ due to poor motivation.

They said the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) and the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital have over 300 consultants while the State Hospitals Management Board has less than 46 consultants and 120 doctors compared to over 700 in the federal hospitals.

But Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy to Governor Godwin Obaseki, Crusoe Osagie said: “The Edo State Government is adopting a holistic approach to the health sector reforms in the state.

“We urge the health professionals to exercise some patience as hasty efforts cannot produce the high standard of healthcare, which the Obaseki government has envisioned for Edo people. Plans have been made and partners are being sourced and in good time, the results will manifest.”

In a related development, the Federal Ministry of Health has expressed its readiness to establish a Lassa diagnosis laboratory in the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo to combat Lassa fever in the country,

National Coordinator of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said this yesterday during a visit to the FMC Owo to monitor progress in the fight against the disease.

The Acting Chief Medical Director (CMD) of FMC Owo, Dr. Ahmed Adeagbo Liasu, said the absence of a diagnosis laboratory has been one of the major challenges of the centre against the treatment of Lassa fever in the state.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Government has restated its commitment to the eradication of quackery in the health sector with the closure of eight facilities, warning that the training of auxiliary nurses in private facilities would no longer be tolerated in the state.

It said training of nurses in private facilities was against the ethics of the profession as it usually leads to quackery.