"There has been no meaningful recruitment into the primary care sector in over 20 years. This is the first time in two decades that the State Government is recruiting into the primary healthcare system to fill the workforce gap," Mr. Olátúnjí said.
The Oyo State Government has announced plans to recruit 3000 health workers for the state's 464 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs).
It revealed that it had completed 200 facilities and upgraded 264 more with equipment, across 33 Local Government Areas.
It stated that its policy is to have at least one functional primary healthcare facility in each of the political wards across all zones.
Executive Secretary of the Oyo State Primary Healthcare Board, Muideen Olatunji, made the announcement while addressing journalists in Ibadan on Wednesday.
Mr. Olatunji disclosed that the State Government has begun recruitment for primary healthcare facilities in all 33 local government areas.
He said the State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has directed that the recruitment process, which began in 2021, be completed.
"We are going to recruit about 3,000 out of the 16,035 that applied on our job portal. We hope that in less than two months, all these examinations will be completed," Mr. Olátúnjí said.
He urged all applicants to return to the job application portal and stay glued to it in order to check their invitations for CBT examinations.
He explained that recruitment into the PHC system is a way of strengthening and regulating the primary healthcare system and being able to restructure health service delivery in the state.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
He stated further that there has been no meaningful recruitment into the primary care sector in over 20 years, and that this is the first time in nearly two decades that the State Government was recruiting into the primary healthcare system to fill the workforce gap.
According to him, "You will recall that we started with the renovation and upgrade of primary healthcare facilities across the 36 political wards; the state government wanted to have at least one functional primary healthcare facility in each of the political wards.
"As of today, we've completed more than 200 facilities, and the remaining ones will be completed in the next few months. In recent times, an additional 264 facilities have been given additional equipment to further upgrade them."
Mr. Olatunji was flanked by five other management team members of the board, including Olayemi Osoko, Sunday Adewole, Kehinde Olabode, Segun Dauda, and Olasumbo Azeez at the briefing.
