Gombe state Commissioner of Health, Dr Ahmed Mohammed Gana has disclosed that the state government has taken concrete measure to mitigate The effect of industrial action embarked upon by the residents Doctors in the state.
“We want to assure our people that the government of Gombe state has taken pro-active measures to mitigate the effects of the strike action embarked upon by the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Gombe State Chapter”, the commissioner said.
The health commissioner noted that regular strike often embarked upon to demand increased payment and improved working conditions by unions is no longer news in the country.
Speaking at a Press Conference on Monday in Gombe, Dr Gana said it was saddening to note that the Association is embarking on an industrial action at a time when the world is battling the global pandemic of new Corona virus infection (COVID-19).
He added that, “locally, the state is still trying to contain outbreaks of highly infectious diseases such as Lassa fever while the retired health workers have volunteer to offer free support to the health system during such epidemics”.
The health commissioner declared that strike is certainly against the moral ethics of medical practice and demonstrates the insensitivity of the association to the plight of the public.
According to him, “it is also important to note that most of these doctors were sponsored throughout their medical training by the state government, and are also enjoying the recent minimum wage increment”.
He added that
“while the current administration has persistently demonstrated that health sector is one of its highest priority areas, and despite the severe financial constraints, huge investments has been made in the sector which include the release of the sum of N350 million so far for the upgrade and renovations of the State Specialist Hospital to a world Class facility”.
In addition, the commissioner explained that the state Government has equally
released N423 million counterpart funds for various developmental programs in the state, most of which are health related.
He further said that N605 million has also been released to scale up NSHIP intervention to all the eleven local government areas of the state aimed at providing at least one fully functional primary health facility in every ward in the state.
Others he said are prompt release of N42m for preparedness and response to infectious disease outbreaks, including Lassa fever and Corona virus Disease in the state,
N160m for payment of stipends to Village Health Workers who are providing community health interventions to complement the work of trained health care workers across the state,
and many other efforts demonstrated by the administration.
The Commissioner lamented that It was worth noting that most of the demands of the Association are not peculiar to doctors alone, and were inherited from the previous administration.
He said that
the present government is fully aware of the concerns of the doctors and has already set in motion machineries to address holistically the problems in both short and long terms.
“As a short term measure, the government has released the sum of N5.65m to thirteen (13) house officers, all in an effort to cushion the effect of their delayed upgrade, pending the constitution of the civil service commission”.
Among other measures, the commissioner stressed that the government has also established the hospital management board and the State Contributory Health Scheme to systematically address most of the yearnings with respect to promotions and upgrades for the entire sector, without limiting to only doctors.
Dr Gana said arrangements have reached an advanced stage to secure accreditation to commence internship training of fresh graduating doctors at the State Specialist Hospital, which would go a long way in boosting the manpower in health facilities in the state.
“The ministry has since yesterday, summoned an emergency meeting to discuss mitigation strategies to ensure that the strike does not seriously affect the delivery of essential health services across the state.
“Following resolutions during the meeting, senior doctors on GL 15 and above, who are only honorary members of the Association are not expected to go on strike, all patients on admission at the health facilities should be retained to be managed by these senior doctors,
all senior doctors on posting in the ministry or its agencies should be drafted to the State Specialist Hospital and the Zainab Bulkachuwa Women and Children Hospital to complement patient care services at these facilities”. The commissioner noted.
According to him, members of the hospital management teams of all the facilities are expected to remain at their duty posts as management staff do not partake in strike actions while
all NYSC doctors who are not members of the Association, should continue to render services.
“Others are a group called “Concerned Doctors Forum”, made up of over fifty (50) doctors, they have dissociated themselves from the strike and pledged to continue rendering essential services during the strike action”. Dr. Gana said.
