Abolition Of Casualisation:Doctor Hails LASG

A General Practitioner (GP),
Dr Gbenga Dade-Matthews,  praised the Lagos State Government for abolishing the recruitment of contract doctors and health workers in the state. Dade-Matthews told newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos that the action would help retain health professionals in health institutions in the country.
“The abolishment of casualisation and contract employment or recruitment of doctors and nurses in the state was a welcome development.
“It was one of the major bones of contention in the past crisis we had in the health sector.
“But now, we have a listening governor, we have a governor that understands the importance or the key role that health has to play in our polity and in nation-building and in the quality of life of the citizenry.
“And I believe, having a clearly defined career path for young health professionals, is key to improving the sector.
“What we have at the moment is, the amount of medical doctors that are practising outside the shores of this country are more than the doctors we have registered in this country.
“So, you have our healthcare institutions, our medical institutions of training   and generating doctors to service the world and our people are suffering.
“We don’t need to look far for the reasons, because the system at home is not conducive, it is not rewarding enough, it is not fulfilling enough.
“So, this singular action by the state governor will go a long way in increasing the retention of our locally trained healthcare professionals, particularly our doctors. “
The general practitioner spoke of the need to improve on the effectiveness and efficiency of the healthcare system in the country to earn the people’s confidence in indigenous health institutions.
According to him, such improvement can be achieved through proper communication between the hospital management and the patients.
“I think before now, we never really leveraged on the positives of technology and information dissemination, because we have not been able to communicate our successes.
“We have only focused on our challenges and I believe one area we need to be looking at is to effectively disseminate information about the teaching hospital as regards the medical feats it is achieving.
“It is important to communicate, to get feedbacks from the people, and it is also important that the communication aspect is reciprocal.
“This will go a long way in building the confidence of people in the system.’’
The Tide learnt that on December  30, the Lagos state government abolished the employment of doctors and health workers on contract basis.
Explaining the motive behind the move, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, had said at a media parley that the measure was part of Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode’s effort at improving the quality of healthcare for Lagos residents and restoring peace in the health sector.