… As Union Threatens Fall-out with Govt.
BY ABUCHI IFESINACHI, AWKA
Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria Anambra state council has called on the Anambra state government to expedite action on the establishment of Ebola Isolation Centres across the state to forestall spread of the deadly disease in the event of an outbreak.
The union made the call through the state chairman comrade Patrick Obianyo during an exclusive interview with the reporter at the secretariat complex Awka .
Obianyo who spoke on a number of pressing issues confronting medical and health workers in the state , said that at the moment information has it that an Ebola isolation center was in progress at the Anambra state university teaching hospital Amaku Awka but decried the fact that the state government was not proactive enough in having preventive measures to combat the Ebola virus disease in the event of an outbreak .
He observed that the Ebola isolation centre being put together at Amaku general hospital was the only centre in the state , though yet to be completed emphasizing that the state government should not wait until there was a reported case of Ebola in Anambra state before it will put all the necessary facilities in place to control the spread of the Ebola virus disease .
Obianyo therefore stressed the need for government to as a matter of urgent public concern put structures on ground to help combat the deadly disease should it find its way into the state .He further emphasized that the union held a workshop recently in Abuja where members were tutored on preventive mechanisms for diseases such as the Ebola virus while commending the federal government , Lagos and Rivers state governments for their efforts in curbing the spread of Ebola disease in the country .
Meanwhile comrade Obianyo also disclosed that the cold war between doctors and other health practitioners still lingers as other medical and health professionals refused that there is no way doctors would lord it over their colleagues in the medical and health profession . He equally bemoaned the fact that the health sector in Anambra state has been ravaged by past administrations as he affirmed that past governments only spent state resources on missionary and private hospitals to the detriment of government-owned hospitals accessible by poor masses .
Lamenting further that health workers in Anambra state still collected only 40 per cent of their salaries as he complained that government has declined paying them their real salaries , he also revealed that some the health workers had died in active service without due entitlements and other incentives . According to him , the immediate past administration did not employ workers and those in service were not paid their due salaries and benefits.He said that equipment to work with in the hospitals were non-existent adding that in Anambra-east local government area ” we have only 5 nurses, 6 community health officers , 1 medical doctor and 26 health facilities in the local government… ”
Obianyo therefore urged the government of Dr.Willie Obiano to consider recruiting more workforce as well as evolve a system of providing drugs to the primary health care centres to enable the rural poor have access to quality health care services in the rural areas as they can not afford the hospital bills in the missionary hospitals and other private hospitals in the state . He was also of the opinion that if by the end of 2014 , the Obiano administration does not effect a positive change in the state health sector , the state medical and health workers’ union may have a fall-out with the state government .
