Makinde Approves Immediate Recruitment of Healthcare Professionals in Oyo State

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has sanctioned the urgent recruitment of doctors, nurses, consultants, and other healthcare professionals to address staffing shortages in the state’s health sector. The announcement was made by Akin Fagbemi, Chairman of the Hospitals Management Board, following a meeting with the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) in Ibadan.  This decision comes in response to an indefinite strike initiated by the NANNM on May 21, due to unmet demands from the state government. Fagbemi emphasized the importance of this recruitment drive, noting it will significantly alleviate the current workforce deficit in hospitals and healthcare centers across Oyo State.  He praised Governor Makinde for his commitment to transparency and accountability in the health sector, which are vital for delivering quality healthcare services. “The governor’s approval for the immediate recruitment of additional healthcare professionals is a crucial step towards resolving the staffing crisis and enhancing healthcare delivery in our state,” Fagbemi stated. 

FG Bans Leave of Absence for Health Workers Relocating Abroad 

The federal government has placed a ban on leave absence for heath professionals relocating abroad.  The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the ban on Saturday, stressing that the era of health workers exiting to other countries in search of better offers after applying for a leave of absence is no longer acceptable. The Minister reiterates that the Federal Government had directed that health workers going abroad to seek greener pastures must henceforth resign their appointments before embarking on such journeys. According to Alausa, the ban on the leave of absence for health workers emanated from the executive order issued by President Bola Tinubu as part of drastic steps to combat the challenge of brain drain fondly called ‘Japa Syndrome’ confronting the nation’s health sector. He also revealed that the FG has commenced the production of manpower in the health sector such that the annual enrolment of nurses which used to be 28,000 is now 68,000 and that by the end of this year, it would have gone up to 120,000. The minister stated this on Saturday during his visit to the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun State. He said that the President considered the biggest asset of the country to be the people and has not only vowed but has taken proactive actions to ensure the health sector is in good shape so that the health of the citizens won’t suffer. Speaking on the challenge of manpower shortages across the FG-owned health institutions, Alausa said, “The government is not unmindful of the Japa effect on our manpower in the health sector and the President has ordered for massive production of manpower such that when people go, there will always be replacement. “It is against this background that we are working intensely on the enrolment of our nurses. What used to be 28,000 is now 68,000 and our intention is to take it to 120,000 by the end of the year, so there will always be abundant skilled manpower to take over from those leaving the job. “We have equally doubled our enrolment for doctors, dentistry, pharmacists among others “Again, we didn’t say anyone who wants to move or japa to the UK or Australia to take up appointments there should not go, it is a free world.” The minister continued, “However, you cannot eat your cake and have it. If you are going, just resign your appointments with the Federal Government, rather than applying for leave of absence, that is the Presidential executive order that has been communicated to all the Chief Medical Directors of Federal Government-owned health facilities to implement. “The problem with the leave of absence is that such a fellow is out there in the UK or Australia working, making money but his name still appears on the payment roll of the government and so to replace him is difficult because he is still being considered as a staff whereas he has left the country. “So, to solve this problem, the President has directed that health workers going abroad to work should just resign their appointments and not apply for leave of absence. This way, you won’t be blocking others who want to work and of course piling burdens for your colleagues that you left behind.” Responding to some of the demands of the hospital such as increased funding, infrastructural development, among other welfare packages, Alausa said that the ministry would leave no stone unturned to do all that is necessary to improve the fortunes of the health sector in the country. Speaking earlier, the Provost and Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Paul Agboola, lauded the Minister for his selflessness and passion to turn things around for good in the health sector. The CMD said that as a result of the approval given by the Minister, his administration had started projects such as the Institute of Psychiatric for the hospital which had been in the pipeline for about 40 years, amongst others.

FG, World Bank train 80 animal health workers in Yobe

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday, commenced training of 80 private and public health workers in Yobe. Dr Yusuf Maina, Director, Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Yobe, said the programme was being sponsored by the World Bank through the Ministry. Maina said that the aim of the programme was to change the way disease outbreaks were reported from analogue to digital for effective management and control. According to him, the training is nationwide. Today is Yobe’s turn. We have divided the training into two segments because of the volume of participants. “Today we are doing for the Area Officers, veterinaries who are in charge of local government areas and then private practitioners, who operate private veterinary services. The training for other category of participants, the surveillance agents, who are closer to people in the rural communities might be carried out next week. “After the training we will give them applications so that whenever they see anything reportable, they will just input, and the report will go direct to the central device for further action,” he said. Maina said the programme would be dealing with emerging and re-emerging diseases, adding that 75 per cent of the emerging diseases come from the animals’ side. “That is why WHO decided to take what is called one health. That is the human health, the animal health and the environmental health. “Under this one health, we come together, we strategise together and fight diseases together,” he explained. One of the participants, Dr Abdussalam Saleh, the Area Veterinary Officer, Nangere Local Government commended the organisers and described the training as timely. Another participant, Dr Hauwa Daya, said the development would ease their work and make it effective.