The Bayelsa State Government has recruited at least 800 primary healthcare workers into the Unified Local Government Service.
The new employees, including 19 medical doctors and 204 nurses and midwives, were formally received at an orientation programme organised by the Local Government Service Commission and the State Primary Health Care Management Board at the Yenagoa Local Government Council Secretariat on Wednesday.
Deputy Governor Dr Peter Akpe, represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Deputy Governor’s Office, Mr Gowon Toruyouyei, described the exercise as the single largest bloc employment in the local government system.
He said the beneficiaries were given priority for their service as volunteers under the Gavi Health Systems Strengthening Programme, noting that Governor Douye Diri was known for rewarding hard work and dedication.
Akpe described primary healthcare as an essential service and the foundation of the tertiary healthcare system. He charged the new workers to justify the confidence reposed in them and warned against absenteeism, particularly among PHC staff serving in hinterland communities.
Chairman of the Bayelsa State Local Government Service Commission, Chief Lambert Ototo, said the workers had served as volunteers for between two and three years before Governor Diri approved their employment.
He said the orientation marked their transition from volunteer status to full employees of the Unified Local Government Service, adding that the commission would conduct routine inspections of health centres to monitor attendance.
‘The Governor, in his love for youths of Bayelsa State, graciously approved the employment of not less than 800 persons into a very critical sector,’ Ototo said.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Seiyefa Brisibe, described the recruitment as a paradigm shift in the state’s health sector, saying it would lay the foundation for improved health outcomes.
Brisibe said Bayelsa now had at least two primary healthcare centres per ward, with each linked to at least one cottage hospital per State Assembly constituency, while every local government area had either a referral or comprehensive general hospital.
He added that the health facilities were now interconnected through dedicated telephone lines.
According to him, 19 doctors and 204 nurses and midwives had, for the first time in a long while, been employed directly into the primary healthcare system, with the doctors scheduled to hold periodic clinical days at PHC facilities.
Brisibe charged the workers to work as a team to ensure that no child under five or pregnant woman died from preventable complications.
He recalled that the renovation and solarisation of the Ogbotubo Community Health Centre resulted in 13 safe deliveries within three weeks.
Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Primary Health Care Board, Dr Williams Appah, described the recruitment as historic, saying it demonstrated Governor Diri’s commitment to meeting the health needs of rural dwellers, pregnant women and children.
Appah, however, warned against truancy, presenteeism, indecent dressing and illegal collection of money from patients already covered by the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.
He said the Board has introduced ODK monitoring and electronic medical records via Android phones, adding that reporting, attendance and prescriptions will now be done electronically.
‘If you do not use the ODK and do not go to work, there will be no salary. The era when PHC staff work without Android phones has passed,’ he said.
Permanent Secretary, Local Government Service Commission, Dr. Amokiese Godwin, in her welcome remarks, said the Commission had been pushing for the employment since 2021 without success until now, and described the appointment as a call to service at the grassroots.