Nigerian President Jonathan Seeks to Avoid Health Sector Strike

Federal Republic of Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan is facing an internal crisis inside his ruling PDP. He is also attempting to head off further labor unrest., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Jonathan, NMA meet to avert industrial action in health sector

Written by From Mohammed Abubakar (Abuja) and Joseph Okoghenun (Lagos)
Nigerian Guardian

Jonathan-Goodluck• Patients desert LUTH as strike bites harder

• We’ve met workers’ demands, says CMD

TO avert complete breakdown of the health sector through indefinite strike being threatened by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday summoned a meeting of critical stakeholders to discuss issues of contention.

Meanwhile, patients in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos, have started facing hard times following the indefinite strike embarked upon on Monday by the hospital’s health workers under the aegis of the Joint House Unions and Association (JOHUA).

The President’s meeting with NMA which held at his office at the State House had in attendance the Ministers of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, his Labour and Productivity counterpart, Emeka Wogu and the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan.

Also present at the meeting were the Director-General of the National Salaries and Income Wages Commission, Chief Richard Onwuka Egbule and his counterpart in the Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okongwu.

The meeting, which lasted more than five hours, was a prelude to an enlarged one which took place in location outside the State House. The latter meeting was conveyed to deliberate on the details of the demands by NMA leadership, which gave the Federal Government up till January 6, 2014 to address all its demands, failure of which the association will mobilise its members to embark on a full and indefinite strike.

Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting, Uduaghan, who is also a medical doctor, said: “There are issues that have been raised by the Nigerian Medical Association over which they have threatened to go on strike. They had a warning strike for about five days, so the President called a stakeholders meeting to look at the issues.

“We are going for a meeting now at 5 p.m. (yesterday) with the NMA, at least, there are some things the President has consented to and I believe by the time we finish the meeting this evening (yesterday), there will be some resolutions. Our determination is to ensure that the planned strike of January 6 is averted.”

He said having come out of the over five-month strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nigeria could not afford to allow any other strike by any industrial union in the country, not in the foreseeable future.

“Of course we cannot afford another strike in the medical sector. One minute of strike in the health sector by whatever body can be very disastrous,” Uduaghan added.

Commenting on the incidence of oil theft in the Niger Delta region, Uduaghan, who is the Chairman of the National Executive Council (NEC) sub-committee on oil theft, said the volume of crude oil being stolen is going down drastically as a result of the activities of the joint security agencies policing the area.

“Again, I must explain that at a time, oil theft was at its peak, there was a shut down of about 300 barrel of oil as a result of damage to two major pipelines, and at that time, between 80,000 and 100,000 barrels were being stolen. That was the time we took some measures to ensure that the volume that is being stolen is reduced. Today, I can tell you that the crude that is being stolen has reduced to about 40,000 barrels per day.

“Those two pipelines are now functioning. So the 300 barrels that were shut down as a result of the damage to the pipelines have now been opened. Stealing 40,000 barrels per day is still on the high side, but as we go further in putting a lot of measures in place, especially in areas of prosecution, I believe that the quantity that is being stolen will gradually reduce, if possibly bring it to zero level. Apart from prosecution, we are also talking of technology and monitoring to deal with the oil theft.”

JOHUA in LUTH is made up of four health unions: National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNW), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), Medical and Health Workers Union (MHWU) and the Senior Staff Association of Universities Teaching Hospital, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAL). And the health workers involved in the industrial action include nurses, pharmacists, radiographers, physiotherapists, medical laboratory scientists, information and health record officers.

When The Guardian visited the LUTH yesterday, patients have not only deserted the always bubbling hospital, only doctors and some senior health workers were seen rendering skeletal services to some patients who were already admitted before the strike commenced on Monday.

In Ward B2, most of the beds were seen deserted. The ward is being manned by a student nurse. A patient, who craved anonymity, told The Guardian that several patients with critical cases and who were already admitted before the strike began on Monday have moved to other hospitals.

There are serious apprehension around the LUTH that the strike may worsen healthcare in the hospital in particular and in Lagos in general as doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) planned to begin nationwide indefinite strike next week Monday.

JOHUA executive members told The Guardian yesterday that the ongoing strike borders on staff welfare and lack of facilities in the teaching hospital. The Chairman of NANNW in LUTH, Mr. Ajala Olugbenga, who spoke on behalf of the union, said the members have endured enough to see that the issues, which he said are carryover from 2012, are resolved amicably until the union was forced to embark on the strike.

But LUTH’s Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Akin Osibogun, told The Guardian that the union’s demands have been met, adding that money meant to take care of their demands have been paid into their individual accounts since Monday when they began the strike. Osibogun appealed to the striking health workers to be considerate of the patients’ welfare and end the strike.

Olugbenga said: “The ongoing strike was called by the JOHUA, which comprises four unions: NANNW, MHWU, SSAUTHRIAL and NASU. The strike is a result of culminated issues which we have thrown at the table of management well over six months now. Some of the issues border on inadequate manpower in virtually all the departments. We lack basic materials to work with; you can imagine in an hospital like this, we lack common things like modern thermometers, machines to check blood pressure, adequate laboratory investigation forms and continuation sheets. We lack adequate electricity so that we have to work in the dark both day and night. And we have issue with non-payment for over time; the management is owing our members three months over-time arrears. Management is owing us uniform allowance; it is an annual payment which is supposed to have been paid before the first quarter of the year. But we are now in January 2014 and the allowance for 2013 has not been paid. Do you expect LUTH health workers to be on tattered uniform? No.

“We have issues of stagnation. We have members who have worked for this hospital for 10 years but are stagnated and they are still on the same level, and people have been attending interviews. I am sure their stagnation is not because they have been failing. We have a lot of them that have done excellently well but management has refused to promote them. Promotion list that was released in 2013 is the worst of all, where management invited 94 people in a particular cadre in a particular department but only promoted 10 of them. Over 10 people retired in that same year. We are not taking that promotion. Over the years, there has been abnormality. There are members of staff that skip to CONHESS 11 from 9, which is very legal. But because of tussle here and there, there was a circular that stagnated these workers on grade level 10, instead of them to move to grade level 11 since three years ago.

“You are aware of the struggle between the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) and the Federal Government and which culminated in a strike. The Federal Government later released a circular to legalise skipping of levels. We called on the management, based on the circular, to ‘unskip’ those they stagnated in 2011 and 2012. Till now, the management has not done anything to that effect. Furthermore, the management has stagnated some category of workers on CONHESS 12 when they should have moved to CONHESS 13.”