The Chairman of the local branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Abayomi Olajide who spoke in Abeokuta said the situation is so bad that they are forced to perform surgery using candlelight owing to power outage in various hospitals for several hours. But the government has denied some of the allegations, assuring that government was making effort to improve on areas where there are lapses. The Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to the Governor on Health, Dr. Femi Adenuga told The Guardian, “most of the allegations are not true.”

 

He explained, “for example, the current Secretary of NMA was recruited in 2013. Among those we recruited during that exercise were doctors, nurses, laboratory technologists and other paramedical personnel and we plan to recruit more soon.” On lack of water, Adenuga said, “Some of the hospitals have bore-holes”, citing the Ijaye General Hospital as one. On power, Adenuga said many of the hospitals are powered by generators due to the poor power situation, “which is not peculiar to Ogun but the problem will soon improve when we complete the Integrated Power Plant (IPP) and our efforts to provide power through solar energy.”

 

But Olajide listed poor infrastructure, gross shortage of manpower in some of the state owned hospitals and lack of domestic health policies as some the challenges confronting the health sector in the State. “There are less than 30 consultant/specialist doctors in the employ of Ogun State Ministry of Health/Hospital Management Board. “To our greatest dismay, there are less than 200 doctors for the whole state, including LGA/LCDA (Local Government Area/Local Council Development Area) when a single Federal Hospital, FMC (Federal Medical Center), Abeokuta has 60 consultants and about 230 doctors in her employ.”

 

The NMA Chairman urged Governor Amosun to take urgent steps in improving the health sector, insisting the government has to invest more in the health care industry in order to improve the health of the citizens.

He said the association was set to sponsor a bill in the Stare House of Assembly to check the increasing number of quacks that have evaded their profession. It had already contracted the services of two lawyers, “one from the United Kingdom (U.K.) and another from Nigeria” to help draft the bill, saying “the reason for this is to have two dimensions of the health practice input of both a developed nation and a developing nation, like ours.”

 

The NMA boss also explained that the body had set up an “Anti-quackery Committee” to work with the government on how to tackle the issue.’’

 

 

Source: MWN