Health Commissioner warns against poor attitude to work

BY NSEOBONG DAVID

The Honourable Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dominic Ukpong has cautioned workers in health institutions in the state who are no longer interested in working for government to resign their appointment.

This warning is contained in a Press Release signed by the Information Officer of the Ministry, Mrs. Mayen Atakpa.

Dr. Ukpong gave this warning when he was on unscheduled visit to the General Hospital Amamong, Okobo as part of his monitoring and inspection of health facilities in the State and discovered that the medical superintendent and key staff were not at work and frequently took French leaves.  

The commissioner expressed displeasure over the continuous poor attitude of some health workers to work and negligence of duty which resulted to unhygienic and untidiness of the hospital environment with overgrown weeds, very unbefitting of a health facility

The release has it that the health boss was particularly irked when he discovered a heap of expired and wasted drugs at the Pharmacy unit of the General Hospital Amamong, as the said drugs were not administered to patients during its validity period.

Dr. Ukpong said that poor attitude to work hinders government good gesture and discourages people who are to access health care services, thus, the refusal to patronize government-owned hospitals.  He warned that all erring medical superintendents and their sub-unit heads will henceforth face serious sanctions for any awkward situation in any hospital inspected.

The health boss appealed to communities not to abandon government health facilities, but rather show interest, visit and report any anomaly and misdemeanor by health workers immediately to the Ministry of Health or Hospitals Management Board for quick corrective action.

In the monitoring team were the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Mr. Bassey Attih, Directors in the Ministry and Hospitals Management Board.

In another development, the commissioner for health has expressed deep concern over the prevalence rate of HIV in Akwa Ibom State and expressed doubt at the figure recorded so far in the state, saying that it did not correctly represent the State’s efforts in fighting the plague especially as it was based on sentinel survey.  

Dr. Ukpong made this statement when the Akwa Ibom State Agency for the Control of Aids (AK-SACA) paid a courtesy call on him.

He stated that accurate data was critically important in the planning of preventive and treatment programmes for HIV/AIDS in the state, and therefore called for a population based study in order to know the current prevalence for the State.

The commissioner advised AK-SACA to put machineries in place to ensure that the uncomfortable prevalence rate is checked, and called for behavioural change among the citizens and residents of the state, while reiterating government effort in reducing the rate and work towards its elimination to safeguard the future of the State.

In his remarks, the Project Manager, AK-SACA, Dr. Nkereuwem Etok said he was in the commissioner’s office to intimate him on the review of the second HIV Programs Development Project (HPDP2).

Dr. Etok hinted that the World Bank was winding down its HIV activities in the state, saying that this would pose a challenge of funding and implementation of HIV programmes.

The Project Manager called on the state government to take ownership of the HIV/AIDS programmes so as to save the State from the scourge.