19th May, 2011
The Lagos State Government has sacked 17 health workers over indiscipline, says the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris.
According to Idris, the affected health workers breached the terms and conditions of service and were made to face the disciplinary committee before they were sacked, adding that four other staff who appeared before the disciplinary committee escaped being sacked.
Idris, who spoke at a ministerial news conference on Wednesday, said the Health Service Commission, HSC meted out the punishment to the affected staff without bias and prejudice.
He further disclosed that 556 health workers, including 320 doctors left the service in the last one year, while government had since recruited 250 doctors into the service, adding that the engagement of the medical professionals would further boost the public sector health delivery capacity.
Idris added that the HSC had trained 1,481 health workers in clinical update and management courses while 69 health workers were also granted study leave during the period of this report as a capacity building intervention.
The commissioner, said: “It is pertinent to mention that the three Maternal and Child Health Centres commissioned in the first quarter of year 2010 have to date, recorded 6,732 births, (1,794 of which were by Caesarean Section).”
“It also recorded 9,301 and 67,984 gynaecology and paediatric clinic attendances respectively. The aggregated hospital maternal mortality rate for these three facilities during the first year of their operations is 523 per 100,000 live births which is slightly less than the community maternal mortality rates for the state.”
On HIV/ AIDS control, Idris said the disease remained one of public health significance, saying that the Ministry/Lagos State AIDS Control Agency, in collaboration with development partners, during the period under review counseled and tested 104, 344 clients of which 9,253 (8.9%) tested positive.
“We provided free anti-retroviral treatment for 2,905 newly enrolled clients; placed 575 HIV positive pregnant women on free anti-retroviral therapy as a PMTCT intervention and distribution of 84,472 supplementary HIV test kits to health facilities,” he said.
On malaria eradication programme, the commissioner said that the disease remained a major public health challenge accounting for about 30 percent of childhood mortality, 10 percent of maternal mortality and a significant proportion of absenteeism from school and work in the state.
“In collaboration with the Roll Back Malaria partners, various strategies have been implemented to reduce the malaria burden and win the war against malaria. Interventions deployed in reducing morbidity and mortality due to malaria are evidence –based integrated vector management, intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy, adequate case management and focused basic and operational research.
“To enrich the diagnostic process and further reduce the prevalence of presumptive treatment of malaria, more than 5,000 RDT kits were distributed to secondary and primary health care facilities,” he said.
Idris said over one million houses had been sprayed under the Indoor Residential Spraying programme of the government.
On nutrition, he said the programme was designed to meet the nutritional needs of vulnerable members of the society, disclosing that 52,962 primary one pupils in public primary schools were beneficiaries of 9,883 cartons and 255 sachets of 10g Cowbell and Milksi milk sachets distributed through the school teachers.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga