Oyo state governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Senator Teslim Folarin, on Tuesday alerted that the state’s health sector is presently in shambles and need urgent attention.
Senator Folarin who raised the alarm in Ibadan at a parley with health workers from across Oyo state decried the deplorable state of infrastructure, equipment and intolerable working conditions of health workers.
The APC governorship candidate stressed that other glaring problems in the Oyo state health sector “include under-staffing in our hospitals, expensive treatment and unavailability of basic drugs”, saying, the situation is all the more tragic in rural areas.
“I am not here to reel out the inefficiency of the incumbent government in Oyo state to your hearings but this platform provides me an opportunity to constructively access the health sector of our state”, he said.
Senator Folarin added, “Frankly speaking, Oyo state’s health sector is in shambles in terms of infrastructure, equipment and intolerable working conditions of health workers. Some other glaring problems include under-staffing in our hospitals, expensive treatment and unavailability of basic drugs. The situation is all the more tragic in rural areas”, .
The APC governorship candidate stressed that there is the urgent need ” to comprehensively upgrade all the state-owned hospitals and also provide new standard ones to serve the lacking communities”.
“It is worth noting the University College Hospital is the biggest public-sector hospital in Oyo state, which is visited by thousands of common people on a daily basis for receiving emergency care and getting routine treatments and tests done. But the institution is overstretched. Hence, the need to comprehensively upgrade all the state-owned hospitals and also provide new standard ones to serve the lacking communities”.
According to Senator Folarin, “a recent study shows that Oyo state is currently ranked 12th out of 36 states in terms of healthcare provision and last in Southwest zone” and that before Governor Seyi Makinde-led administration was inaugurated, Oyo state was 8th on the log”.
“To me and to the good people of Oyo state, this is a reversal of fortune. However, I must commend all our health workers for risking your lives to save lives. Having realised that only a handful of citizens can afford treatment in private hospitals, our administration shall reform the health sector of Oyo state”.