The Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Borno chapter, says additional 4,000 health personnel were required for effective health services delivery in the existing health facilities in the state.

The MHWUN state Chairman, Yusuf Inuwa, disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Maiduguri.

He said that inadequate health personnel in the state-owned health institutions was affecting health care delivery in the state, adding that retired workers must be replaced to change the trend.

“The state government recently constructed a kidney dialysis center at the State Specialist Centre which was recently commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Former Gov. Kashim Shettima has done remarkably well in rehabilitating and procuring equipment in health facilities that were destroyed by Boko Haram across the state,” Inuwa said.

He listed the required health personnel to include doctors, nurses, midwives, laboratory scientist, technicians and pharmacists among others.

Inuwa urged Gov. Umara Zulum of Borno to prioritise the welfare of the health personnel in order to increase productivity.

The chairman lamented that some of the problems facing the sector was the salary disparities between the health workers.

“Our major challenge is that our local government area workers are earning 40 per cent of their CONHESS salaries while those working in the state capital are getting 90 per cent which is not supposed to be so.

“Another lingering issue has been the 65 years of service for the health workers. We believe if this is implemented, it will enable us to train newly employed workers who will take over from those who retired.”

The state government had spent over N1 billion to rehabilitate and procure state-of-the-art facilities for 38 secondary health facilities destroyed by Boko Haram insurgency across the state. (NAN)

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