By Chioma Umeha
Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, on
Thursday, February 18, 2016, commended members of the state branch of
Association of Local Government Medical Officers of Health in Nigeria for
demonstrating understanding of their duties by committing themselves to saving
lives.
Governor Aregbesola gave the commendation
while receiving the association at Government House, Osogbo.
He, however, chided doctors in the state’s
employ who are currently on strike, describing the boycott of work as a
betrayal of their Hippocratic Oath.
The governor said, unknown to many Nigerians
who have heard only the doctors’ side of the story, they collected six months’
salaries without doing any work.
He challenged them to tell the world whether
they did not collect their salaries up to September 2015 when they went on
strike.
?On the other hand, Aregbesola lauded the
association of local government council doctors for their active service and
commitment to the generality of the people of the state.
He stated that the local government
health workers were not only the bedrock of any state’s healthcare sector but
also the proverbial stone rejected by the builder, which turned out to be the
cornerstone.
?He however lamented the industrial action
of doctors at the state level for more than 11 months, saying, but for the
active commitment to service of members of the association and other medical
personnel, the state’s health care system would have been compromised.
?Governor Aregbesola restated how on
assumption of office, he changed many existing traditions such as the date for
payment of salaries, leave bonus, increased car loans, increased housing loans
and a host of other pro-workers initiatives.
On his part, Fabiyi Samson, chairman of the
association, said primary health care remained the bedrock of any state’s
health system and the governor should be commended for what his administration
has done on the primary health care system.
Samson disclosed that Osun was second to
Lagos in the provision of sound health care system in the country.
According to him, primary health care holds
a strategic position in the health care ladder, as more than 75 per cent of the
populace is attended to at the primary level.
