The Chairman of the Nigeria Medical
Association in Oyo State, Dr. Mojisola Atalabi, on Monday, said that the
exodus of medical staff and consultants had hit the Ladoke Akintola
University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, over non-payment
of salaries by the Oyo State Government.....
Speaking at a press conference held on
the state of things at the teaching hospital, Atalabi said the state
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Azeez Adeduntan, stopped the association
from seeing the state Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, over the crisis at the
hospital, adding that all efforts to meet the governor had yielded no
positive result.
The NMA boss accused the government of
failing to constitute a governing board for the hospital and paying
doctors 28 per cent of their salaries.
She said, “This would definitely not
motivate anyone to give the best to the system. Why would health workers
under the state Hospital Management Board and council workers get full
salary, while LAUTECH is treated like a business enterprise?
“Deliberate suffocation of the hospital
has now led to mass exodus of human capital from the facility. In the
last five months, more than 20 medical consultants, over 60 per cent of
resident doctors, 100 nurses, 10 laboratory scientists, five
physiotherapists, six pharmacists and a host of other health workers
have left due to hunger and dehumanisation to where they would be
guaranteed a future.
“The ordeal of LAUTECH doctors and other
staff in the hands of the state government could better be imagined
than to be experienced. It is therefore with a sense of utmost urgency
that we bring it to the notice of well-meaning Oyo State people,
traditional leaders, opinion leaders, various stakeholders and policy
influencers that Oyo State is on the verge of ruining one of the
enviable heritage of the state.”
The NMA chairman said it was saddening that the gains the state made in the health sector were being lost.
“When LAUTECH problem started in 2016,
the NMA leadership intervened by urging the leadership of the
Association of Resident Doctors in LAUTECH to adopt diplomacy and
consultation at resolving the crisis.
“We have been writing letters to the
government for the past one year on how to address the issue without a
reply. The national president of the NMA also wrote a letter to the
government but he could not see the governor. The governor later sent a
text message to me that I should contact the health commissioner to
facilitate a meeting. When I contacted him, he asked me why I wanted to
see him. That was all, we never heard anything again,” she added.
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