Osun Assembly to stop govt doctors from private practice
The Osun State House of Assembly has said it would soon enact a law that would prevent doctors in the employment of the state from having private hospitals.
The Speaker of the Assembly, Mr Timothy Owoeye, dropped the hint in his goodwill message at the turning of sod of the extension of the State Specialist Hospital, Asubiaro, Osogbo, an initiative supported by Save One Million Lives Programme For Results.
Owoeye said only doctors that have put in 20 years in the public health service would be exempted when the law takes effect.
According to him, while many workers in the health sector have supported the government in its bid to provide quality health for the people, some were frustrating the efforts.
In his address, Osun State Governor, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, listed various initiatives of his administration to revitalise the health sector in the state.
He said after the completion of the expansion work, the hospital would be upgraded to a 180-bed facility.
Oyetola said funds for the project was sourced from the Federal Government facilitated World Bank Save One Million Lives Initiatives from which the government got $20.547m, after it was adjudged second nationwide in the contest.
Reacting to the plan by the Assembly to bar them from private practice, the Chairman, National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners, Osun State chapter, Dr Olufemi Oroge, urged the Assembly to exercise caution while looking for solutions to the challenges facing the health sector in the state.
He said if the welfare of doctors in the employment of the state had been well catered for, many of them would not engage in private practice and called for a holistic approach in addressing issues in the sector.
He called for dialogue on the matter with a view to arriving at a mutually-beneficial position, adding that private practice by state doctors had been the sole reason why many of them had not left the state for greener pasture elsewhere.
PUNCH
