By Our Correspondent in Ilorin
As all hands are deck in Kwara state to contain the spread of lassa fever, Dr Raji Razaq, the Commissioner for Health says the state is committed the to protection and securing the life of health workers, especially those assigned to render humanitarian services.
The Commissioner made the commitment at Sobi Specialist Hospital, Ilorin while addressing the issues that led to the protest by Nurses, alerting the state government of their security which they described as paramount to their life and profession.
Represented by by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Alhaji Iliasu Tsado, Rasaq commended the health workers for their dedication to serving the people.
He, however, urged them not to take laws into their hands,assuring them that the state government was on top of the situation and had investigation into the case.
He also advised the union leaders to control their members, pleading with all health workers to go back to their normal duties.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Nursing and Midwifery Association, Kwara State chapter, Comrade Aminu Sheu, said the family of an HIV patient that lost his life in the hospital caused the protest by beating a nurse, Mrs Eyitayo Serifat Hammed, to coma.
The union leader noted that “this has been a reoccurring issue which almost cause a loss of life in a move to serve humanity. The said health worker is a nurse and is in a critical state.
“We, the nurses in the state plead with the state government to provide adequate security in our hospitals across board,” he pleaded.
The Chief Medical Director, Sobi Specialist Hospital, Dr Salamat Lawal, commended the Ministry of Health and the management of Hospital Management Board for their prompt action.
She the timely intervention saved the hospital from embarrassment which he said might have caused more havoc in the state.
She, therefore, urged the staff of the Hospital to go back to their normal duties, adding that Ministry of Health would find lasting solution to their challenges.
Also speaking, the Director of Medical Services and Training, Dr Johnson Oyeniyi, appealed to the family of the health workers affected to exercise patience, adding that the state government had waded into the issue with a view to finding lasting solution to it.
The representative of the Director-General of Hospital Management Board, Dr Nusirudeen Balogun, promised to tender all the challenges of the health workers at Sobi Specialist hospital to the Commissioner for Health for positive result.
