Gov Bello Set To Employ 800 Medical Personnel, Appeals To Doctors To Call Off Strike

The Kogi State governor,  Alhaji Yahaya Bello said his administration is set to employ 800 medical personnel to beef up the existing ones in the state while also appealing to striking medical doctors to shield their swords for the sake of the masses as 80 percent of their demands have been met.

This was made known by the State commissioner of Health, Dr Saka Audu who stated  that the on-going strike embarked upon by doctors in the service of Kogi state government and their threat of mass resignation is uncalled for as more than stressing that 80 percent of their demands have been met by government.

He added Just over N2.14bn has been set aside for the recruitment of medical personnel to shore up the shortage of manpower in the health institutions across the state.

The commissioner who called on the striking doctors to embrace dialogue with the government in pressing home their demands described the disagreement as a family issue which can be resolved internally.

The commissioner, who was reacting to the face-off, disclosed that 163 doctors are currently under the employment of the state government of which only 25 doctors had issues based on the outcome of the staff verification exercise  including those that were uncleared and those employed in 2015 that were regarded as political motivated employee.

He however that government is committed to ensuring an efficient healthcare delivery services in the state while  appealing to the striking doctors to resume duty without further delay in the interest of the hopless patients who are dying in the hospitals as a result of the lingering strike.

Under the new employment,  180 Medical Officers, 52 Consultants, 199 Pharmacists, 400 Nurses, 100 Laboratory Technicians and 49 Radiographers would be employed.

It would be recalled that Doctors with the state government on Wednesday embarked on an indefinite strike over unpaid salaries, sacking of their colleagues employed in 2015, non implementation of their back log promotions and review of their over bloated tax.