Solomon Ayado, Lafia
Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, on Friday approved the recruitment of 246 medical personnel to boost fight against the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic in the state.
Out of the 246 category of medical personnel to be employed, 30 are medical doctors while 15 are pharmacists and pharmaceutical technicians, 70 nurses and 50 medical laboratory technicians respectively.
Also to be employed are additional 35 health and information management officers, 40 health assistants and 6 radiographers.
Governor Sule gave the approval in Lafia when the National President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) visited him at the Government House.
Professor Innocent Ujah, National President of the NMA had explained that the visit became necessary to broker a cordial working relationship between medical and dental personnel and the state government.
Ujah said they were varied issues affecting members of NMA in the state, including lack of adequate personnel and welfare, excess taxes among others, and the visit was to evolve measures to tackle them.
However, the Governor in his response said the recruitment approval is imperative to provide adequate healthcare delivery and to further ensure that coronavirus is contained.
Sule stated that although more health managers are still needed to handle the various health outfits in the state.
He noted that the current recruitment is basically an state government effort to ensure productivity and boost delivery in the health sector.
Speaking on promotion for civil servants in the state, Sule insisted that as a matter of importance, his administration would extend the gesture to other sectors, apart from health.
According to him, the promotion would be a continous process owing to available resources accrued to the state.
On heavy taxes placed on medical personnel in the state, the governor assured that he would direct the state Accountant General to oversee the matter and reverse the excess taxes, especially for medical doctors.
While commending the doctors for their sacrifices during the COVID-19 pandemic, he advised for continous adherence to safety guidelines because, he said, the pandemic has not gone.