APC , Osun Govt trade words over state of health sector

By Tunde Opalana

Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the state government over the weekend traded words of the state of the health sector over which the opposition party described the plight of the health sector under the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke as pitiable.

A statement on Sunday by the chairman of Osun State APC, Tajudeen Lawal accused Governor Adeleke of cruelty in paying lip service to the health sector by refusing to engage the needed manpower.

The APC boss recalled that the Ademola Adeleke administration in November, 2022, through an Executive Order terminated the appointment of health workers recruited by his predecessor, Adegboyega Oyetola.

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He bemoaned the governor for taking such action because the sacked health workers which comprised doctors, pharmacists and community health workers were appointed after Oyetola had lost the July, 2022, gubernatorial election.

Lawal also knocked the state government for the last cause that the delay in the recruitment of health officers was because it was awaiting the outcome of the minimum wage.

The APC chairman in the statement said “In the first instance, why did Governor Adeleke sack the health workers recruited by the former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, on assumption of office when he knew he wasn’t having an immediate solution to the health problems in the state? When he knew well that the state had a shortfall of doctors and other health workers.

“Is Governor Adeleke waiting for the people of the state to die before he addresses the health issues in the state with the speed it requires?

“Will it not be right to conclude that the decision to sack health workers, as well as the current lackadaisical handling of health issues by Governor Adeleke was callous given that the Governor and members of his household could afford to run abroad, as they have done many times, to access quality healthcare?

“Governor Adeleke should wake up and stop insulting the collective sensibilities of the people of the state. The health sector needs his urgent attention.”, the Osun State APC chairman counselled.

However,responding on behalf of the state government, Dr Adekunle Akindele, the Special Adviser to the State Government on Health Matters said the party lacked the temerity to downplay ongoing efforts by the Governor Ademola Adeleke administration to reposition the health sector in the state for better effectiveness.

“Like I have said on many occasions, the health sector that Governor Adeleke inherited was near-collapse as decaying infrastructure and manpower shortage were a glaring reality.

“That was the situation that Governor Adeleke is working assiduously to correct in order to make qualitative healthcare service a possibility for the people in the state.

“It is worth noting that in the 12 years of the APC administration in Osun State, no employment was made into the health sector.

“The fictitious 1500 health workers that Sooko Tajudeen Lawal even made reference to were a media stunt as not only was a proper recruitment process not conducted but there was no record of them in the state’s civil service.

“This is why Sooko Tajudeen Lawal and his party have found it so hard to produce just an employment letter of the supposed recruits,” he stated.