The Chairman of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, MDCAN, Kunle Ajayi, has said medical practitioners are avoiding Ekiti State due to poor funding of the health sector by the state government.
He said medical doctors were particularly avoiding the state as they view the unpaid salaries and poor funding of the State University Teaching Hospital, EKSUTH as abnormal.
Mr. Ajayi who dropped the hint on Wednesday at the commissioning of the association’s secretariat at the EKSUTH premises in Ado Ekiti, urged Governor Ayo Fayose to save the health sector from total collapse.
Despite recently receiving a total of N13.65 billion as Paris Club refunds as well as other bailouts from the federal government, Ekiti State is owing its doctors about eight months arrears of salaries. Resident doctors are already on strike to protest their unpaid salaries.
"Up till date, this Government has not invested a single Kobo into the state health sector apart from the ones by the previous administrations."
“When this place was upgraded to Teaching Hospital in 2008, a lot of us on juicy appointments came. We left behind all privileges we were enjoying”, Mr. Ajayi said.
“But EKSUTH has received little attention in terms of funding and capacity building. This hospital has not received serious funding since the inception of this Government. As we can see, this is the worst we've ever had in terms of good health care delivery in this state."
“The more (doctors) that would have come have been prevented because of the experiences of people on ground so that the future of people who left various places won’t be jeopardised. The best we can have today is to declare a state of emergency in the Ekiti health sector. We are loosing lives everyday and someone is there uncared about the situation."
Interestingly, Mr. Fayose was represented at the occasion by the Commissioner of Health, Olurotimi Ojo, who appealed to the doctors to be patient with the state government.
“I will speak with the governor on your behalf; there is no responsible father that will see his children suffering and not act”, Mr. Ojo said.
“The governor feels for you but he has been incapacitated by financial limitations. The governor appreciates our consultants. Resident doctors are currently on strike but I want to plead with them to come back. Everybody knows what is going on with the allocations coming from Abuja.
“I don’t want you (doctors) to be militant, let us show our strength during this period. All institutions on subvention in the state are going through this situation.”
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