{"id":2409,"date":"2026-07-28T08:43:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=2409"},"modified":"2026-07-28T08:51:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:51:27","slug":"delta-state-health-care-march-recruitment-promises-yet-to-reach-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=2409","title":{"rendered":"Delta State Health Care: March Recruitment Promises Yet To Reach Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Agbamu Michael Pius<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Months after the Delta State Government announced a massive recruitment drive to address the shortage of personnel in public hospitals, many families across the state are still forced to patronize private healthcare facilities due to persistent understaffing in government hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reporter experienced the situation firsthand on Saturday, July 11, when my elder sister went into labour. We immediately rushed her to Eku Baptist Government Hospital, the major general hospital serving Ethiope East Local Government Area, expecting prompt medical attention. Instead, we encountered overcrowded waiting areas, long queues, and very few nurses on duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A visibly frustrated patient in the waiting hall expressed disappointment over the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Government go dey announce for radio say dem dey hire hundreds of workers, but if you come hospital, na only two nurses you go see dey run up and down. Person go almost die before doctor eye reach am.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the labour became more urgent and the delay posed a risk to both mother and child, our family had no option but to transfer my sister to a private clinic in town, where we incurred significant medical expenses to ensure a safe delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience contrasts sharply with the Delta State Government’s earlier assurances. On March 24, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Onojaeme, announced that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori had approved the immediate recruitment of more than 700 medical and non-medical health workers to strengthen healthcare delivery across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recruitment exercise was introduced to address the growing shortage of healthcare personnel caused by the increasing migration of Nigerian doctors and nurses to foreign countries in search of better opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Ministry of Health, the Hospital Management Board (HMB) received 295 recruitment slots, while the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara, was allocated 120 positions. Additional personnel were expected to be deployed to government hospitals, including Eku Baptist Government Hospital, Central Hospital, Warri, and Asaba Specialist Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new appointments were also intended to support recently completed health projects, including the Mother and Child Hospital, Ekpan, and the Delta State Public Health Laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, several months after the announcement, many residents say the expected improvements have yet to materialize, as hospitals continue to struggle with inadequate staffing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When contacted, a senior staff member at a state-owned health facility, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, attributed the delay to administrative procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“People think once the Governor approves recruitment, workers just appear the next day. Verification of certificates, background checks, and official postings take weeks. But yes, we are severely short-staffed right now,” the source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Delta State Government maintains that the newly recruited personnel will soon be deployed across the state’s 441 Primary Health Centres and general hospitals, many residents say they continue to bear the burden of delayed implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For families requiring urgent medical attention, the promise of additional healthcare workers remains largely unrealized, as many continue to rely on costly private hospitals while waiting for improvements in public healthcare services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Agbamu Michael Pius Months after the Delta State Government announced a massive recruitment drive to address the shortage of personnel in public hospitals, many families across the state are still forced to patronize private healthcare facilities due to persistent understaffing in government hospitals. This reporter experienced the situation firsthand on Saturday, July 11, when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"iawp_total_views":11,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,14],"tags":[143,448,662],"class_list":["post-2409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthcorner","category-trendingnews","tag-delta-state","tag-health-care","tag-recruitment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2409"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2416,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409\/revisions\/2416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}