Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has called for an overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system to ensure effective service delivery to the people.

The Governor decried the incessant strikes by medical personnel in the country stating that “even blue collar workers don’t resort to strikes as frequently as our medical doctors do.” He said that many doctors put in few hours into government work and the remaining hours on their personal work.

 

Governor Oshiomhole, who spoke at the inauguration of the Hospitals Management Board, Land Use and Allocation Committee, Traditional Medicine Board and Edo Arts Council in Benin, noted that the nation needed a healthcare system which operated on best world practices, so that it could not be business as usual because of the system.

 

Oshiomhole added that Nigeria must live beyond where the medical doctors walked out of their jobs and their patients were left dying, stating that even blue collar workers did not embark on strikes “as frequently as medical doctors do.”

 

“It hurts me that people that the world is focusing on, especially in this period when people talk about Ebola Virus which has no cure yet, are on strike. “We can play with everything, but we shouldn’t play with human lives.

 

“However, because people can leave work for as long as they want with the slightest provocation if there is any, and then return to collect accumulated salaries with taxes collected from patients who are dying, then the problem will continue. “I am a worker, I’ve been a Union leader, I have organized strikes but I understand the difference between essential services, life-saving sector vis-à-vis other sectors.

 

“So we need a robust debate on how to reposition the health sector and it will be your lot to ensure that those who receive money from government in the name of service put in commensurate work.

 

“A situation in which somebody who is supposed to be at the Central Hospital or at the Stella Obasanjo Hospital or at the Auchi General Hospital or other General Hospitals is diverting patients to private clinics will certainly be unacceptable.”

 

“The governor assured that the first part of the Central Hospital, called the Emergency/Management Control Centre, still under construction, would be ready within the next few months.

 

“Once that hospital is completed, we will put in the latest state-of-the-art medical equipment and obviously we will have to seriously engage management on how to ensure that the investment translates to effective asset to every Edo man and woman that needs medical care,” he said.