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Ogun doctors threaten strike over poor state of hospital facilities

By Lawrence Njoku (Enugu) and Charles Coffie Gyamfi (Abeokuta)
26 July 2017   |   4:14 am
The doctors who spoke in Abeokuta yesterday under the aegis of National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners (NAGGMDP) also expressed dissatisfaction with acute shortage of medical and health personnel.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, assured that the government would take steps to reverse the situation, ascribing the situation to the economic recession.

• FNH workers petition EFCC over alleged fraud

Doctors at the Ogun State owned hospitals have lamented the poor state of health facilities and infrastructure in the state General Hospitals.

The doctors who spoke in Abeokuta yesterday under the aegis of National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners (NAGGMDP) also expressed dissatisfaction with acute shortage of medical and health personnel.

The Chairman of the State chapter of the association, Dr. Oladunni Adetola, who spoke to journalists alleged that 95 per cent of the hospitals do not have functioning X-ray machines, Oxygen and Oxygen concentrators, suctioning machines and ambulances for emergency services.

He warned that if the government did not take immediate steps to effect positive change within the next one month, they would embark on an indefinite strike.

He said doctors have resolved to withdraw their call duty service “from August 2017 and then total withdraw of service by September,” if their demands are not addressed.

But the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, assured that the government would take steps to reverse the situation, ascribing the situation to the economic recession.

Adetola said the last time the state government employed health workers for the General hospitals was in 2013. In another development, workers of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital (FNH), Enugu have petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleging monumental fraud in the hospital.

The workers under the aegis of Association of Psychiatric Nurses of Nigeria, (APNON) and the Graduate Nurse Association of Nigeria (GNAN) said they could no longer fold their hands and watch a few individuals destroy the health institution.

They pleaded with the EFCC acting chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, to investigate their claims and ensure that the culprits were brought to book.

In a petition signed by Mr. Maduka Chibuzo and Okonkwo Jude, the chairman and secretary of APNON, respectively, as well as Anoliefo Grace and Nwagwu Vitus, the chairman and secretary of GNAN, respectively, they claimed that “N570m came into the hospital accounts to settle arrears in October/November, 2016 but has been hidden till date in a different account.

The workers, who provided a breakdown of how the money was allegedly shared, said one of the beneficiaries in the accounts department of the hospital returned N2000, 000 paid to him, citing religious grounds.

Efforts to get the reactions of the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Jojo Onwukwe, failed yesterday, as he did not pick his calls.

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