Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has said that his administration remained committed to the welfare of medical doctors and other workers in the state.
The governor was reacting to claims by the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) Osun State chapter that the state government is not paying salaries of doctors and that the health sector in the state was not well-funded.
Speaking through the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Office of the Governor, Semiu Okanlawon, the governor said his government has developed the most ingenious formula for satisfying the needs of its workforce within the limit of the available resources.
According to him, “The government of the State of Osun is aware of the claims by the Nigerian Medical Association today over issues of welfare where its leadership has accused the Rauf Aregbesola-led administration of insensitivity to their welfare.
He said: “This is far from the truth. This government has engaged the doctors, perhaps, more than any other category of workers in the state, on the need to equally be sensitive to the hardship foisted on the finances of the state, especially since Nigeria as a whole entered into its trying period of economic recession.
“This was what necessitated the setting up of a revenue apportionment committee led by no less personality than a former labour leader in Nigeria and veteran labour activists on the continent of Africa, Comrade Hassan Sunmonu.
“On the state of the health facilities, the doctors must be fair enough to admit that the health sector in Osun has witnessed a huge improvement since the coming of this administration.
“Apart from the huge investment of about N1.8bn for the upgrading of the state General Hospitals, this administration has ensured that health care safety and emergency measures are improved with the provision of the state-of-the-art ambulances across this state.
“As a professional body whose duty it is to save lives, we expect and continue to implore the doctors to see themselves as partners with the government in the overall task of ensuring the sanctity of lives which the doctors also swore an oath to protect.
“We hereby wish to reiterate for the umpteenth time, that the Rauf Aregbesola-led administration remains a labour-friendly one and we have always called on all groups, including the NMA to be sensitive to the prevailing economic situation across the land while the government continues its relentless efforts to make the best of the situation we have found ourselves as a country.”
Credit: Daily Trust
