Management denies alleged crisis at FMC Abeokuta




The Management of the Federal Medical Centre in Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, Ogun State, has debunked a news item making the rounds that the centre is engulfed in tension and crisis.

The said news item, according to the management, was purportedly published by an on line news medium, Salient Times, where the reporter allegedly threw caution to the winds and flagrantly distorted facts in order to create an atmosphere of chaos, tension and disaffection in the centre.

In a statement by the centre's Head of Public Relations and information, Mr. Segun Orisajo, the hospital's management bemoaned what it tagged as the unprofessional conduct of the reporter, who for the reasons best known to him, turned his back against balanced reporting, an ethical standard in journalism but instead took a one way reporting line.

The statement read in parts, "for the avoidance of doubts, the Management wishes to state that there was nothing unusual about the supposed invitation of some individuals by an organ of the law enforcement agents and the Federal Ministry of Health as published in the said news report.

"Such invitations are the routine steps commonly adopted by competent government agencies in the assignment of fact finding and should therefore not be misconstrued as breakdown of law and order in the Centre nor does it translates into that.

"It is expedient to put on record that within the past two months, five sub- specialty departments in the Centre got full accreditation for a period of five years each by the accrediting medical bodies for the purposes of training resident doctors.

"The departments are;. Radiology, Family Medicine, Paediatrics, Anaesthesia and Obsbstetrics & Gynaecology.

"Definitely, such remarkable achievements could not have been recorded in an atmosphere of tension and crisis as the Salient Times reporter would want the public to believe.

"As a further show of unity, brotheliness and togetherness, the hospital Union executives , members of the Hospital Management Committee and friends of the Centre were among the well wishers who graced the conferment of PhD in Anatomy on the Medical Director, Prof Adewale Musa-Olomu by the Olabisi Onabanjo University at Ago- Iwoye last Monday.

"Similarly, a thanksgiving get- together in appreciation of the latest Medical Director's academic feat in PhD held just last Saturday was well attended by
members of the Planning and Implementation Committee for the establishment of the Proposed University of Medicine and Medical Sciences, academic guru, the entire members of the Hospital Management, Union Executives and Media Practitioners.

"Therefore, contrary to the make- belief report of the Salient Times, there is unity, love , peace and industrial harmony among the ranks and file of the Federal Medical Centre Idi-Aba Abeokuta.

The hospital urged members of the public to disregard the Salient Times report which the management views as a figment of the reporter's imagination and desperate attempt to drag the reputable name of the foremost health institution and its staff into the mud.

It also enjoined the writer to exercise restraint in his reports, cross check facts and desist from publications aimed at creating ill feelings, disaffection, disharmony and tension where none exists.