Mansur Oladunjoye
4 July 2008
Lagos — Lagos state government has threatened to sack any health worker whose attitude and commitment to duties negated the attainment of policy thrust of the state government's healthcare services to the people.
The state government said that the new step was in reaction to the recent spate of numerous criticisms of the attitudes and commitments of some health workers in the state hospitals and other health facilities.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris who made the statement on Wednesday in Lagos while on an impromptu monitoring visit to some general hospitals in the State, reiterated the state government's resolve to deliver qualitative, affordable and equitable healthcare services to the citizenry with the application of appropriate technology.
He added that every step of the state government was in tandem with relevant high level policy documents such as "the Health Millennium Development Goals, the Ten Point Agenda and the Health Sector Reform Law, strategies that include the continued implementation of the health sector reform agenda; upgrade of infrastructure at all levels; revitalisation of the primary health care system; and establishment and implementation of a financing strategy for the sector among others."
Idris stressed that the health sector reform agenda is a broad-based purposeful and sustainable fundamental change in the function, structure and performance of the health system in order to deliver efficient, qualitative, affordable, accessible, effective and equitable health services to the populace with a view to improving their health indices hence, it is important that every body in the health sector particularly the health workers in government hospitals work in dantum to achieve this objective.
He explained the essence of the impromptu visit was to enable government know what is happening in various hospitals; find out how patients are being cared for and attended to; the quality of care and the situation of things in terms of the physical structures of the hospitals.
Said he, "this (his visit) is the only way we can see for ourselves what is happening in our hospitals. We receive various complaints bordering on patients not being seen on time, and being maltreated among others hence we have come to see things our selves. Besides this is one way of confirming some of these things (allegations) particularly as we do not inform the authorities of these hospitals of our visits hence we see things the way they are and not the ways they want us to see them."
The Commissioner who was accompanied on the visit by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Mr. Toyin Amzat and the Permanent Secretaries, Ministry of Ministry, Dr. Deremi Desalu and the Health Service Commission, Dr. (Mrs.) Funmilayo Olatunji said that any lapse that was noticed during the monitoring will be corrected just as he added that physical structure and infrastructure would be upgraded or repaired where necessary.
Idris said that to further strengthen the state government secondary health care programme as well as in line with the policy thrust of having at least one secondary health facility per local government, five General Hospitals at Ifako Ijaiye, Somolu, Mushin, Alimosho and Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Areas of the state have been rehabilitated, adding that generators have also been procured as back up power source for the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital; General Hospital, Lagos; Ajeromi General Hospital; Apapa General Hospital; and Orile Agege General Hospital.
"The state government is undaunted in its effort at strengthening the secondary health care programme vis-à-vis having a functional secondary health facility in each of the local government in the state thus we have procured medical and laboratory equipment for various hospitals in the state. In addition, we have also re-roofed the old theatre and maternity annex at Lagos and Surulere General Hospitals beside raising and repairing the perimeter fence at the Lagos and Mainland General Hospitals respectively," he noted.
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