Cross River State Seeks To Reengage Retired Medical Personnel

According to Dr. Henry Ayuk, the Cross River State Commissioner for Health, the statutory retirement of civil servants after 35 years of service is a serious threat to public health services.

The commissioner, who disclosed this during an interactive session in Calabar, reiterated that the state government is considering engaging nurses, doctors, and other medical personnel who are due for retirement this year.

He stated that, “Nurses and doctors who may be qualified for re-engagement are those who are still active and useful to the system and have a good record of service.”

Ayuk cited the example of a doctor at General Hospital Ogoja who was due for retirement three months ago, but the state governor had not accepted his retirement because there was no replacement.

He explained that some of the nurses retiring this year are below 50, as some of them started receiving salaries when they were admitted into nursing schools in their teens, and these years were counted for them as years of service.

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He lamented that out of the 18 general hospitals in the state, there are only 18 doctors, and in some hospitals, only a single doctor offers 24-hour services, which is humanly impossible.

He further stated that the state government has only six pharmacists in its employ, and some hospitals in the state have none and expressed fear that this may give room for quackery.

He announced that the state government has employed five new medical doctors for the general hospitals, and they will resume work soon.

According to the commissioner, “There was no single doctor in the state’s primary health care system until the advent of the administration of Governor Bassey Edet, who recruited five doctors to take care of the 1096 Primary Health Centres (PHC) in the state.”

He emphasised that PHCs are the foundation of the health care system, therefore, they cannot function successfully without doctors, stating that they are the main focus of Otu’s administration as they are the pillar of the national health system.