The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has raised alarm over dire consequences of the alleged poor attention being accorded to the welfare medical practitioners in the state .
The Ekiti State Chairman of NMA, Dr Babatunde Rosiji who warned government about the imminent collapse of the health system due inadequate personnel also disclosed that Ekiti is currently experiencing the worse case of brain drain in the sector .
Addressing journalists in Ado-Ekiti on the activities lined up for the 2022 edition of the Physicians’ Week tagged : “Nigeria’s Healthcare Delivery System and the 2023 Democratic Transition: A Time to Change the Narrative.” Rosiji lamented that the pull factor had taken toll on the health system in the state.
Rosiji therefore admonished the new administration of Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji to put machinery in motion inorder to avert the imminent collapse of the health sector.
He also urged the government to introduce attractive welfare packages that would halt the drift .
Aside the fact that Medical Doctors had poor Salary Package in Ekiti compared to their colleagues in other climes, Rosiji said the few ones available are usually overworked.
According to Rosiji the emotional trauma had made some medical Doctors to seek greener pastures in countries where they would be appreciated.
” If you want me to rate the state government’s performance on Health sector, I will say it’s 40% because working with Ekiti State is not attractive for us again as Doctors.
“We have been patient for two years, if we are pushed to the wall, we will not listen to anyone that we are Humanitarians.
“I was told few days ago that the unfortunate thing is that the Ekiti state government over the past 2 years have concentrated partially on the infrastructure aspect while looking the other way when it comes to the welfare of the people that are supposed to drive the health system.
“We need a total of 276 medical doctors to run the 21 general hospitals in the state, but we have 85 doctors in Ekiti state. Each general hospital in Ekiti state will need at least 9 doctors, but the best we have in our general hospitals is that we have 2 doctors, and many of them have only one.
“The Health Care Sector in Ekiti State has collapsed but, we have not agreed it has collapsed. When Federal Medical Doctors have received their salary, we will be counting 31, 32, to 40th of the month before you can even collect the money.”
Reeling out frightening statistics in Ekiti ,the NMA chairman said “every secondary health centres and specialists hospitals in Ekiti must have at least nine doctors, but the highest we have is two per hospital. We are supposed to have 276 doctors, but we have just 85. How do you expect us not to have high mortality?.
“We need about 195 doctors to run the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, but we only have 95. Why should people blame doctors for the monster the government has created? For the primary, we need 32 but only have 12 and four of them will be retiring soon”.
The NMA boss regretted that four local governments in Ekiti have no doctors to oversee their primary healthcare centres, which he said also contributed to high diseases index in the state.
Rosiji appealed to Nigerians to be patriotic in 2023 by voting for a candidate that can rescue the country from the current difficulties , rather than placing high premium on vote buying and other pecuniary gains that can sway their positions wrongly.
“The era of blind loyalty is over. Let us all patiently wait to hear the plans of the presidential candidates for the health sector before pitching our political support for the one with the best health policy”.
The NMA urged the state government to implement hazard allowance to medical doctors on its payroll, regretting that Nigerian medical practitioners remained one of the poorly paid globally, and that the trend must change.
He said his members may resort to industrial action, if the state government fails to pay backlog of salaries owed members and implementing payment of other allowances due to them.
Rosiji said NMA in many states branches had offered free medical treatments and despatched relief materials to victims of flooding in Bayelsa and other states.
As part of the activities marking the week, Rosiji stated that the NMA would offer free healthcare services to the residents of Iyin and Ikogosi Ekiti, as part of their corporate social responsibility to the state.