Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has ordered immediate employment of 30 medical doctors and 100 nurses into the state civil service within the next two weeks.
He gave the directive during the Treasury Board Meeting in preparation for the 2019 budget held on Tuesday in Abeokuta.
Amosun said the employment would provide a temporary succour for the shortfall in the health sector before the 2019 budget is passed which would allow more employments in the sector.
He added that an additional provision of at least 100 medical doctors and 300 nurses would be made in the 2019 budget.
Amosun said the employment would add more to the wage bill of the state which the state is struggling to pay, adding that he would comply with whatever minimum wage agreed upon by the government-NLC negotiating team.
Earlier, the state commissioner for Health, Babatunde Ipaye had demanded inclusion of employment of no fewer than 100 medical doctors into the 2019 budget which will complement the existing 142 in the service.
He explained that Abeokuta city currently has 22 medical doctors with 122 nurses attending to an average of 12,000 patients on monthly basis while Ijebu Ode has 17 medical doctors to attend to average of 8,000 patients.
According to Ipaye, only seven medical doctors operate in each of Ota and Ilaro with average of 2,500 patients adding that no fewer than 40 to 50 doctors would be required to immediately address the shortfall.
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