The Cross River State Government says it will re-engage the services of medical personnel including Doctors and Nurses into its workforce to tackle the challenges of the Health Care system.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Henry Ayuk who made this known during an interactive session with journalists in Calabar, the state capital said that the statutory retirement of civil servants after 35 years of service is threatening public health services in the state.
For this reason,he said that the state government is considering engaging nurses, doctors, and other medical personnel who are due for retirement this year.
Ayuk said those who are being considered for re-engagement are nurses and doctors who are still active and useful to the system and have a good record of service.
The Commissioner recalled an incident at the General Hospital Ogoja where a Doctor who was due for retirement three months ago, was retained by the governor because there was no one to replace him .
According to him,some of the nurses retiring this year are below 50, as some of them started receiving salaries when they were admitted into nursing schools in their teens, and these years were counted for them as years of service.
The commissioner expressed worry that of the 18 general hospitals in the state, there are only 18 doctors, and in some hospitals, only a single doctor offers 24-hour services .
Speaking further,Ayuk stated that the state government has only six pharmacists in its employ, and some hospitals in the state have none saying that this may lead to dishonest practices.
He announced the employment of five new medical doctors by the state government for the general hospitals.
While stating that there was no single doctor in the state’s primary health care system until the advent of the administration of Governor Bassey Otu who recruited five doctors to take care of the 1096 Primary Health Centres in the state., the health commissioner said the PHC is the foundation of the health care system which cannot function successfully without doctors adding that the PHC is the thrust of Otu’s administration .
