Nurses under the auspices of
University Graduates of Nursing Science Association (UGONSA) have frowned at
the state of the Nigerian health system and called on the government to live up
to its responsibility and overhaul the health system for efficient and
effective care delivery.
Reacting to the recent death of
Doctors and Nurses at the hand of Lassa fever in Ebonyi State, the association decried as
despicable the level of lip service paid to development and strengthening of
the Nigerian health system by successive governments.
In a statement in Abakaliki on Thursday by its
National President, Chief (Hon) Solomon Egwuenu, and its National Secretary,
Nurse Goodluck Nshi, the association said the recent killings by Lassa Fever of
health workers in Ebonyi State was avoidable
but for gross neglect and abandonment of our health system by government.
“At the latest count more than 40
health workers have died as a result of Lassa fever in Ebonyi State alone in
the past 13 years. This ugly incidence
has continued because there have been no proactive measures fostered by the
government to arrest it over the years.
“What we see each time we
experience the avoidable dead of health workers from Lassa fever is that
government officials rush to the press to commiserate with the victims and
hypocritically resume the supply of basic personal protective equipments (PPE)
and hand sanitizers to hospitals. But as soon as the tension dies down, hand sanitizers,
PPEs, electricity and ever running water
disappear and become essential commodities in our hospitals, leaving our
compassionate nurses and physicians with the pathetic option of treating
patients largely unprotected, and in the process, dying while trying to save
others from a preventable disease like the Lassa fever.
“The worst is that as we bury the
deceased in agony, the government mocks the living health workers by paying
them five thousand naira as hazard allowance. In Nigeria today, we all know
that five thousand naira can hardly procure a comprehensive therapeutic drug
regimen let alone run a basic laboratory health screening.
“Despite this, our irrational
government that pays millions of naira to political office holders as newspaper
and wardrobe allowances does not see any good in reviewing upward the current
ridiculous hazard allowance payable to health workers in the face of non-provision
or inadequate supply of basic PPE and sanitizers for standard universal
precaution in our healthcare institutions.
“We advice JOHESU and NMA to
sheath their swords and fight together to salvage the plight of the
Nigerian health workers especially on
this issue of abusive hazard allowance because the current government seems
insensitive to the plight of the health workers and more so seems too
comfortable with the rot in our health system.
The association further queried
why the South-East virology centre built by Ebonyi State government and
commissioned by the Federal government two years ago is not yet fully functional,
necessitating the arduous ferrying of victims of Lassa fever, by road, to far
away Irrua in Edo State, which leads to the
deaths, from exhaustion, of some
of them in the course of such a long distance journey on very bad roads.
“With the pomp and ceremony that
greeted the commissioning of the South-East virology centre, we thought the
government had meant business in efforts to curtail the endemic Lassa fever. Two
years later, it is now clear that it was the usual case of “the more you look,
the less you see”.
“We have come to the conclusion
that the problem with Nigeria is not APC or PDP or any other political party
but bad leadership. With the change mantra mouthed by the APC, we hoped that
Buhari was coming to overhaul our health system and end medical tourism. But
what we have witnessed is escalating medical tourism, poor remuneration of
health workers, dearth and decay of facilities and incessant migration of our
best brains in the health system oversea in search of greener pastures.
The association called on
Nigerians to be objective and wise and stop voting along ethnic, religious,
tribal or party lines but rather on verifiable facts of what a candidate can
offer.
“While we urge Nigerians to
diligently observe all the preventive measures against Lassa fever currently
being preached across electronic and traditional media, such as rearing of cats
in rodent-populous environments, storage of foods and wastes in rodent-proof
containers, cooking of foods properly and proper hand washing with soap and
water, we also call for objectiveness in
voting during elections.
“Having seen that the current APC
government is no better than the past PDP governments we chastised, we advise
Nigerians to make concerted effort to end the perennial health and economic
sufferings we have been subjected to by looking beyond ethnicity, tribe,
religion and political affiliations and objectively root, in future elections,
for pragmatic and selfless leaders whose antecedents testify of their possession
of the will power to overhaul our health system, stop medical tourism and turn
around our economy – the statement concluded.
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