How Governor Akeredolu scrapped Ondo State free health care services and turned it to family business- Dr. Femi Ayodele

Dr. Femi Ayodele narrated his ordeal working as Primary care doctor in Ondo State within this regime of current Governor Rotimi Akeredolu from Wyalong, Sydney with our reporter below.

I worked as a primary care doctor in Ondo State between 2013 and 2017. I saw many children and pregnant women’s lives being saved through the free medical care services of the past administration. I mean indigent patients who are unable to buy ordinary pampers.

The majority of our patients who present with emergency conditions have no money to procure emergency medications and utilities for their emergency care.

As humans, we are not immune to emergency sicknesses and accidents, I strongly believe that all public health facilities should be able to take care of all patients in emergency situations without any request for money until the patient is stabilized.

The previous administration in Ondo State was able to significantly address emergency care for all the under-five children and pregnant women in the Mother and Child hospitals and other public primary health care facilities. This led to a dramatic lower child and maternal mortality rate in Ondo state.

One would have thought that the next administration will complement the efforts of her predecessor and probably extend this giant stride to include all men and women of all ages and probably build more tertiary care facilities in other parts of Ondo state.

I felt ashamed of the Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu led administration to have scrapped all the free health care services in the name of raising the internally generated (IGR) revenue for the state.

To add salt to our injury, the IGR collection was turned to a family business through a consultancy company that charges a certain percentage on every revenue collected on behalf of the state.

May someone remind Akeredolu that the majority of us in Ondo State is not as privileged as he and his family are. The majority of us do not have any savings to take care of our emergency health needs however, we may still be able to struggle to pay our bills before we are discharged.

I can imagine how many children will present to the hospital with acute diarrhea disease but eventually die of dehydration a few minutes because the parents are unable to buy the IV canular and the IV fluids to resuscitate the child immediately. I wonder how many women in Ondo state are bleeding, to death every day because the husband is unable to immediately buy elbow-length gloves for the doctor to remove the placenta and massage the womb.

For the privileged people who are still supporting Akeredolu for his re-election bid, you will not know how poor you are until you suddenly fall sick and you are told to produce N200,000 for your emergency treatment.

Akeredolu has misplaced his priority by neglecting the health and well-being of the residents of Ondo state in the name of IGR and for this reason, he does not deserve a second term as his second term will definitely be worse than what we are presently experiencing.