Primary healthcare system in Enugu State is threatened following the non-payment of salary of local government health workers in the last nine months.
Investigations by The Guardian yesterday revealed that the health workers across the 17 local government councils are owed various months, thus fuelling nonchalance in their work.
The salary situation was said to have worsened since the Transition Council Chairmen took over in January this year, following the expiration of tenure in office of elected council executives.
Some of the health facili-ties visited yesterday have been taken over by weeds, while one or two health staff were seen loitering around some facilities, many others remained under lock and key as no human presence was noticed around them.
While doctors operating in the facilities were said to have left in the last four months, the facilities exist without drugs as the oper-ators said they did not have access to drugs.
It was gathered that while some immediate past council chairmen alleged-ly owed four to five months salary arrears, a majority of those who took over from them in January this year have either not paid a kobo as salary or paid only for one month . One of the health workers in the facilities said: "Our colleagues no longer come to work because they have not been paid. We have made series of representa-tions to no avail. The coun-cil chairmen complain that our wage bill is too high, yet they can't pay."
In one of the health facili-ties at Enugu South Council, the only female staff on duty lamented that overgrown weeds have taken over the facility, stressing that: "Snakes and other dangerous animals move into this place any-how. You can see that I decided to stay in the balcony because I am afraid of what may happen if I should go inside.
"Residents find it difficult to patronise us because there are no drugs, there are no doctors. What we try to do here is to give immu-nization to children and the few of them that patro-nise us come only on Mondays. We don't treat any other medical cases here because there are no facilities and doctors.
"The last time we wanted to get drugs here, it took me several days of lobby-ing for the ministry of health to release malaria drugs to us. They kept say-ing that we lack necessary facilities. We have written several letters of appeal to the local government to come and clear this place, even though people don't come to work, but it has not worked. I come because i cannot close this place."
At the coal area in Enugu north and Ibagwa in Enugu east, the situation is the same as most of the health facilities looked des-olate.
Contacted, the State Chairman of the Association of Local gov-ernment of Nigeria (ALGON) and Chairman of Enugu east council, Mr. Cornelius Nnaji attributed the development to pauci-ty of funds, insisting that the state government was doing all in her ability to settle all arrears of salary for local government work-ers.
By: Lawrence Njoku, Enugu
The Guardian News
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
STOP paying for airtime and electricity, Let your phone pay its bills with ScreenT
You may also like
Comrade Lemii Christian Emerges Chairman of NANNM Rivers State Branch in Historic Victory
PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA Following the long awaited National Association of N…
FG Supports Robotic Surgery Expansion to Reduce Medical Tourism
Nigeria is taking another step toward strengthening specialised healthcare …
Complete Knee Replacement Rehabilitation Package in Lagos
Knee replacement surgery is a major step toward pain relief and improved mo…
NAMDA threatens strike over unpaid medical lecturers’ allowances
The Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) has warned…
Resident Doctors Signal End to Strike Threat After High-Level Talks with Gbajabiamila
The threat of a nationwide indefinite strike by the Nigerian Association of…
