By Auwal Mohammed
Gombe (Nigeria) — The Maternal and Newborn Child Health Coalition (MNCHC) in Gombe State, northeast Nigeria, has urged top government officials, politicians, Traditional and religious leaders to desist from interfering in the posting of health workers, as the state currently records 162/1000 under five mortality rate.
Chairman of the Coalition, Alhassan Yahya, who made the call at a press briefing in Gombe on Tuesday, said, the State Ministry of Health is overwhelmed by requests from highly placed individuals seeking to redeploy health workers from rural areas to urban.
“Most of rural communities do not get qualified health workers to provide the needed service, their health facilities are manned by volunteers and other unskilled personnel who are forced to do their best siling patient jeopardizing their lives
“The high concentration do not get qualified health workers in town undermine service delivery at the rural areas facilities, in the final analysis , all these contribute to the negative health indices of the state as contained in the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey that Gombe state has 162/1000 under five mortality rate”, the Chairman added.
The Coalition also appealed to the state government to enforce a clause of compulsory acceptance of posting to any part of the state, as contained in the employment letter for at least 2 years before seeking redeployment.
It also advised the government to accord priority to skilled health workers when employment opportunities arise and that volunteer health workers, who are skilled, should be considered first, in term of employment, particularly in primary health facilities.