By Akanimo Kufre (Akwa Ibom/Cross River Correspondent for The New Diplomat)
Health professionals in Akwa Ibom on Friday angrily walked out of a meeting with the state’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Dominic Ukpong.
The meeting was held to discuss critical matters concerning the management of the Coronavirus pandemic in the state.
The boycott according to the coalition was due to the absence of doctors from the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) who are expected to play pivotal role against stopping COVID-19 in the state.
The coalition of health professionals also passed a vote of no confidence and call for the immediate resignation of the Honourable Commissioner for Health.
The coalition comprises National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Association of Medical Laboratory Scientist of Nigeria (AMLSN), and National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM).
In a statement made available to journalists in the state, the health workers called on Dr. Ukpong to immediately resign his appointment as Commissioner for Health in the state.
The group criticized Dr. Ukpong’s leadership style alleging high-handedness, lack of regards to the health professionals and poor inter-personal relationship with professional bodies in the health sector in the state.
“I want to plead with the management of the ministry of health that since you want to discuss COVID-19, it is important that every professional in the health sector be present in this meeting and therefore I want to move sir by way of respect to you and your office that this meeting be put on hold or rescheduled and that every member of the health profession should be represented here.”
Meanwhile, the Health Commissioner while reacting to the meeting’s boycott by the health professionals said: “This gathering is not a union meeting. It will not be put on hold. If there is any group that is not feeling comfortable and does not want to be here, it’s a very free society they could leave.” Dr. Ukpong insisted.
The meeting which the health Commissioner convenes for monitoring and prevention of COVID-19 in Akwa Ibom State was boycotted few minutes after commencement since the allied health workers noticed the absence of medical doctors.
The non-attendance of the medical doctors, it was gathered came as a result of the disaffection between NMA and the Health Commissioner in a previous meeting where the Commissioner scolded the NMA for insisting on best interest of the people especially on issue bordering on training health workers first before deployment into the fight against COVID-19.
The NMA Chairman, Dr. Nsikak Nyoyoko while speaking with The New Diplomat on the crisis said: “It is not just an NMA matter, it’s not for our members but for the generality of Akwa Ibomites. The advice we gave is in our communiqué which the governor has done most of the things we ask for, just a few are still left like training. We are talking about a new virus and a very infectious one at that. So the training must have a standard operating procedure, SOP, so that we guide everybody on how to manage everything because the first respondents are we, the health professionals in various hospitals.
“When we see those cases what do we do? How do we respond to the first case that comes? What should be done to the environment and other patients? The same thing happened at Ikot Ekpene people were not too sure of what to do until those from ministry of health came. When a thing like that happens it affects the confidence of the patient, the patients would be wondering these people do not know what to do and the patient would leave. We want a more coordinated response.” Dr. Nyoyoko said.
Speaking on global shortage of replaceable and consumable supplies, Dr Nyoyoko suggested looking inward to local technology.
“The world is a global village, if we have shortage in the world then we have in Akwa Ibom. We are also thinking of a situation where we look inward locally and empower one or two persons to produce some of the needs locally.
“For example in UUTH (Uyo University Teaching Hospital), we have been producing hand sanitizers for months even before the outbreak of COVID-19, since the time of Lassa fever. Right now as we speak there is also production of face mask, we need to look inward for commodities for the protection of health workers and their patients.”
Meanwhile, an ugly trend of disputed information has been observed in the state between health professional and politicians as regarding centres, ventilators, and respirators in readiness to battle the dreaded COVID-19 in Akwa Ibom State.
During the week the Information Commissioner, Hon. Charles Udoh led some media practitioners on a facility tour to showcase Ibom multi specialty hospital, saying the emergency isolation unit was set up following governor Udom Emmanuel proactive steps to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hospital management said they have not been certified by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as a centre for the treatment of COVID-19 cases and that the facility was set up long before COVID-19 outbreak. According to the hospital officials, oftentimes they’re forced to refer members of the public seeking to be tested to Infectious Disease Hospital, (IDH) in Ikot Ekpene as an approved centre.
