Health Workers Decry Poor Services At Port

The Director, Port Health Services, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, Dr Morenike Alex-Okoh, has decried the poor service at the Port, saying they had only one medical doctor with two ambulances.
Alex-Okon disclosed this when officials from the Ministry of Health inspected the facilities of Port Health Service (PHS) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
The Director, who spoke during the facility tour of health equipment, also noted that PHS lacked drivers to drive the attached vehicles in case of emergencies.
She urged government to provide all the necessary working tools in order to enable health workers function optimally, stressing that with this, more lives would be saved in emergency situations.
She added that nurses were retiring in droves without replacement.
While responding to questions on inadequate personnel and the complaints of the service at the airport, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Mr Abdulazeez Abdullahi, who led the government team, assured that more personnel would be deployed to airport.
“We have excess of staff (in the country) and this thing will be addressed. I can assure you that more personnel would be deployed”, he said.
He also debunked rumours that an Ebola infected passenger had entered the country through the Lagos International Airport, assuring that extra steps were taken in the screening of in-bound passengers to ensure that those infected by the virus don’t gain access to the country.
On the rumoured Ebola virus scare he said there is “no truth in the earlier rumour that a traveler with Ebola virus entered the country”, he said.

Nkpemenyie Mcdominic