PDP laments ‘worsening’ healthcare, hospitals in Ondo

• Says medical facilities now slaughter slabs
• Begins reconciliation as Oyinlola-led committee visits Makinde

The Peoples Democratic Party, Ondo State chapter, yesterday, said that the health sector is under imminent collapse as seen by the worsening conditions of medical facilities in the state.

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 is now available in some of the general hospitals in the state.

The PDP, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary in the state, Kennedy Peretei, said 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 state.

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

He said: “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 which have better conditions of service. Yet, Ondo State is richer than most of these states.”

Meanwhile, the PDP has initiated an internal reconciliation process with a view to addressing internal political wrangling that has caused division within the party.

This move came in the wake of growing concerns over the unity of the party ahead of the upcoming elections in different parts of the country.

The PDP’s committee met with Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, at the State Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.

The Deputy Governor, Bayo Lawal, who received the committee on behalf of the governor, said that the outcome of the committee’s assignment would determine the future of the party to either progress from the current quagmire, remain stagnated, or retrogress.

He charged the committee to take the bull by the horn and ensure that issues affecting the party fundamentally are duly addressed and resolved to put the PDP at a more healthy position for future elections.