The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has lamented the state of the health sector under Governor Ademola Adeleke’s government.
The party also termed it as the worst possible outcome for the 33-year-old state.
Tajudeen Lawal, the chairman of the Osun APC, claimed in a statement issued on Sunday that it was the height of cruelty for a democratic administration to pay lip respect to the health sector by refusing to hire the necessary personnel.
According to news reports, the Ademola Adeleke administration revoked the employment of health personnel recruited by his predecessor, Adegboyega Oyetola, via Executive Order in November 2022.
The recruitment of health workers, which included doctors, pharmacists, and community health workers, was terminated because the appointments occurred after Oyetola lost the gubernatorial election in July 2022.
Lawal also stated that it was unnecessary for the government to claim that the delay in recruiting health officers was due to the outcome of the minimum wage.
“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.
Responding, 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.
