Fears gripped the residents of Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State following the engagement of non-professionals and quacks in the on-going immunization exercise in the area.
The one (1) week exercise which kicked off on Monday, however suffered a serious setback as Primary Health Officers in the area refused to participate due to their ongoing strike.
It would be recalled that the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria has been on strike since July 27, 2014.
Sequel to the refusal of the qualified primary health workers to participate in the ongoing immunization programme, the Asalga Primary Health Care Cordinator, (PHCC) and the Medical Officer of Health (MOH), Dr. Solomon Ikboku engaged some quacks and non professionals for the programme, which social pundits described as dangerous to the primary health sectors in the LGA.
Speaking to our correspondent at Buguma, the headquarters of the council, a Primary Health Officer who pleaded for anonymity alleged that none of the components of the primary Health Care is involved in the exercise. The Primary Health Officer added by saying that the Asalga PHCC and MOH, Dr. Ikboku intimidated the primary health personnel with police, because of their refusal to participate in the immunization programme.
The Health officer recalled that the Chai Measles Campaign in November last year did not take place in the LGA due to the strike, regretting that figures were manipulated and falsified, which is dangerous to health information management and statistics. ###
