Health professionals fiddle far too much with
the health of the nation
After several days of strike that claimed the
lives of hundreds of innocent Nigerians, health
workers across the country, under the auspices
of Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), at the
weekend agreed to return to work. As part of
the deal that led to the truce, a committee has
been constituted to draw up modalities for the
payment of consultancy and specialist
allowance for healthcare professionals as well
as review some other demands made by the
health workers before they went on strike.
Coming only a few weeks after medical doctors
under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical
Association (NMA) ended their three-month
strike, the JOHESU action was both ill-timed
and unfortunate. However, now that common
sense seems to have prevailed, we hope that
both the union and the federal government
would come to a binding agreement so we can
put an end to incessant recourse to strikes that
take heavy toll on human lives.
It is a fact that healthcare delivery is critical to
the well-being of any society. Yet if health
workers in Nigeria understand this, they have
not demonstrated it given the manner in which
they go on strike at the slightest excuse. More
unfortunate still is the fact that the latest strike
by JOHESU was driven essentially by their
rivalry with medical doctors. The crux of the
matter: non-promotion of its members from
salary CONHESS 14-15 as directors having
stayed for between four and15 years on the
same salary level without promotion in most
federal tertiary hospitals; immediate release of
circular on adjustment of salary since January
2014 and payment of arrears.
JOHESU was also demanding the immediate
release of the circular on extension of
retirement age to be back-dated to February
2014 when the issue was presented to the
federal government as well as full payment of
all manner of arrears that have also to be
backdated. There are other demands by
JOHESU most of which border on their
competition with medical doctors.
Instructively, none of the items on the JOHESU
list calls for upgrading of the decayed and
dilapidated health infrastructure across
hospitals in the country. Neither is there a
mention of the need to improve healthcare
delivery in Nigeria. It is all about the welfare of
JOHESU members and their rivalry with medical
doctors. That, however, is no surprise because
most of the times, the reasons why workers go
on strike in our country are purely personal.
We believe that as much as JOHESU has the
right to demand for improved welfare packages
for its members, it is also incumbent on health
practitioners to consider the plight of patients
across the hospitals before they embark on
their usual muscle-flexing. There should be
other mechanisms for addressing grievances
without turning our hospitals to death
chambers. If the interest of Nigerians is
topmost in JOHESU agenda, the best way to
demonstrate it is not through incessant strikes.
But the union alone should not take the blame.
There is a school of thought that government,
at practically all levels in Nigeria, usually pay
little or no attention to workers in critical
sectors like education and health because
most of the officials do not patronise local
institutions. However, since at the root of the
problem is the seeming insistence by JOHESU
that its members be accorded the same
privileges as NMA members, the federal
government should apply global best practices
on the issue. It is not in the interest of our
country that the NMA and JOHESU would be
alternating strikes which often lead to the death
of ordinary Nigerians who patronise public
health facilities. However, now that there is
some sort of truce, we hope that all the parties
will work to restore sanity to the sector.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-johesu-strike/196694/