By Chukwudi Nwauba :
Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike has assured the State Chapter of Medical Laboratory Scientists (MLS) of continued collaboration in the health sector of the state.
Dr. Obidike said that the contribution of the association in the health sector of the state cannot be overemphasized while urging them to support Gov. Charles Soludo’s good initiative in health.
The commissioner said this when the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists Anambra Chapter paid him a courtesy visit in his office at the Jerome Udoji Secretariat, Awka.
“I have listened to your challenges; it might interest you to know that one of the challenges which is the recruitment of MLS has been addressed.
“Our Governor who is passionate about the health of Ndi Anambra discovered that there is a serious gap in the health sector of the state and gave approval for the employment of health workers which includes MLS.
“Then, the issue of quackery and Scientific officers doing the job of Medical Lab Scientists must stop and we must work together to achieve this.’’
He assured them that the administration of Gov. Soludo is adopting a holistic approach in revamping the health sector for optimal service delivery to the people.
Dr. Obidike urged them to advise their colleagues who are staff members in the state Ministry of Health to be committed in discharging their duties as well as attend work as at when due.
State Chairman of the association, Mr. Ikenna Anahalu, informed the commissioner that their visit was to discuss with him on issues confronting their members in the ministry of Health and the state MLS in general.
“There is a wide gap between the numbers of MLS employed in your ministry, currently the number of MLS is not encouraging and what it means is that the majority of health facilities lack the services of MLS.
Mr. Anahalu appealed to the commissioner to use his good office to impute on the State government to scale up the number of MLS in hospitals across the state.
He commended the commissioner for the timely correction of the anomaly in the last advert for employment in the State Civil Service where MLS wereexcluded.
According to him, MLS is a government regulatory body saddled with the responsibility of training, licencing and regulation of the practice of the Medical Laboratory profession in Nigeria.
“We call for regular promotion of our members in the State public service as when due and it is unfortunate that our members who risk their lives in the pursuit for good health of Ndi Anambra are not encouraged by giving them regular and uninterrupted promotions.’’
