The Commissioner for Health in Ebonyi, Dr Moses Ekuma has announced the state government's willingness to employ people in the primary healthcare of their state.
He announced this when members of the National Association of Community Health Practitioners of Nigeria, Ebonyi State Chapter paid him a courtesy visit in his office at Ochudo Centenary City, Abakaliki.
The Commissioner who noted that necessary modalities have been put in place to ensure the increase of manpower in primary healthcare, said that any moment from now the employment of community health workers would commence.
He highlighted the efforts of the State Government to revitalize the sector and promised to give them an office in the Ministry to make them accessible pointing out that they would help to fight quackery
While the Commissioner said that the College of Health Ngbo was too big for three departments namely Community Health Extension Worker (CHEW), Junior Community Health Extension Worker (JCHEW) and Environmental Health Officers (EHO), he announced plans to bring other departments to the school as they added midwifery department to the college of nursing, Uburu.
Dr. Ekuma maintained that the aim was to upgrade them and reduce the plight of the people going to other States to study some of the courses like community health officers, social work, etc.
Earlier, the Chairman, of the National Association of Community Health Practitioners of Nigeria, Ebonyi State Chapter, Princess Chetachi Otsulor said that they came to pay him new year homage as well as thank him for the numerous achievements in the health sector and to urge him to sustain the tempo.
She called for the establishment of health institutions offering courses that would enable them to enhance their status and advocated for the employment of community health workers in primary health facilities to reduce the workload on the part of existing staff adding that they have a record of the unemployed in the field
Lending his voice, the Provost, College of Health Ngbo, Elder Nwamkpuma Stephen said that they complement the work of doctors cum other health workers and appealed to Commissioner to take their requests to the Governor to enable those who have reached their bars to make progress.
