The Ondo State Government has read the riot act to health workers in the 18 Local Government Areas of the state, following observation of low performance by the workers.
The Ondo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency said the performance of the health workers would determine their continued stay in office.
The Permanent Secretary of the agency, Dr Francis Akanbiemu, stated this on Sunday, while addressing some primary healthcare directors in the 18 local government areas of the state.
Akanbiemu frowned at the low performance of some health indicators, especially in the area of immunisation, urging them to be more alive to their responsibilities or risk being replaced.
He said, ‘Primary health workers have no excuse to perform below expectation, going by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s administration’s huge investment in the primary health sub-sector as evident in some key projects currently being executed by the agency and the approval for recruitment of more medical doctors and health workers to further enhance service delivery to the people.
‘Henceforth, the performance will determine their continued stay in office’.
He advised them to embark on outreaches and sensitisation programmes to encourage more women to present their children for immunisation, saying Ondo State was noted for high performance in immunisation.
The Permanent Secretary said plans were underway to tackle challenges facing workers at rural levels, particularly those in the hard-to-reach areas, so that more primary health workers could be available at the grassroots to deliver quality services to residents.
While commending Aiyedatiwa for the prompt release of funds for various projects in the agency, Akanbiemu appealed to primary health workers across the state to justify the government’s huge investment in the sub-sector.
Also speaking, the state Director, Disease Control and Immunisation, Dr Victor Adefesoye, encouraged the LG Coordinators of the agency to be more alive to their responsibilities by being more committed to ensuring that all health indicators in their various local government areas record 100 per cent success.
It was reported that the government recently recruited 1,000 health professionals into the health sector, and all the workers have since been deployed to their various places of assignment.
