The incorporated trustees of Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International on Wednesday made true its threat to commence contempt suit against top officials of the Joint Health Sector Union for allegedly disobeying an order of the court directing them to suspend their ongoing strike.

A contempt suit prescribes imprisonment as penalty for disobedience to a court order.
The President of the National Industrial Court, Justice Babatunde Adejumo, had in the Abuja Division of the court on May 17, 2018, granted KFHRI’s ex parte application by ordering the principal officers and representatives of JOHESU to suspend the strike within 24 hours.
The strike which commenced on April 17, 2018, paralysing health institutions across the country is now about five weeks.

KFHRI, through its lawyer, Mr. Okere Nnadmi, had on May 18, 2018, a day after the court made the allegedly flouted order, threatened to commence a contempt suit against the union’s officials if the disobedience to the said court order continued.

In making real it’s threat, the group on Wednesday applied to the National Industrial Court in Abuja, for the issuance of Forms 86 and 87, the two notices for the commencement of contempt proceedings against alleged violators of the court order.

Both the Form 86 (notice of consequence to court order) and Form 87 (notice to show cause why the violators should not be jailed) were targeted against JOHESU’s President, Mr. Josiah Biobelemoye, and the union’s vice-president, Mr. Chimele Ogbonna, representing the entire union.

The Form 86 carried a threat of likely imprisonment against Biobelemoye and Ogbonna, should they continue to disobey the court order directing them to suspend their ongoing strike.

“Take notice that unless you obey the direction contained in this order you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison,” the court paper read in part.

The Form 87 stated that KHRFI would at about 9am on June 4 or thereafter “apply for your committal to prison for having disobeyed the court order of interim injunction of this court made on May 17, 2018…"

OboOlora:
The only question I have is; will they be paid for the time they didn’t work?

fruqy:
Oga o. They should just suspend the strike already. Greedy people

harbeordune:
Is the N.G.O a part of the F.G?

DrAdonis:
This whole JOHESU thing is tiring. They are just fighting an unjust battle which is an eternally lost one. They just want to further destroy the healthcare in Nigeria.

Let me just explain one or two of what they are clamouring for to those that are not very medically inclined

1. Just because doctors are appointed consultants, they want same. Let us examine who a consultant is in the hospital setting and his responsibilities.

A consultant is a medical doctor who finished medical school, did housemanship and NYSC then writes an exam called primaries which is very tough and competitive with an average pass rate of 20% (not cause majority fail but they choose the top scores as pass) then work as a medical officer for varying years (some more than 10 years) before starting residency. The residency is the postgraduate studies to be come consultants in various specialities like neurosurgery, plastic surgery, Paediatrics etc.
The residency training is a rigorous one and the resident doctor works for no less than 68 hours in a week, runs the emergency, clinics, do ward rounds, teach medical students and even nursing and other students. The resident doctor also does case and seminar presentations carries out researches, writes academic papers and does a thesis (all these and more are necessary prerequisites to become a consultant). This residency takes 6 to 12 years depending on the specialty and it also incorporates very tough specialty exams.

Also take note that a doctor that does not do residency but has 20 years of work and surgical experience is not decorated a consultant.
So for a pharmacist, nurse or medical record personnel to just wake up and say because they have 10 years experience they should be decorated consultants is very laughable and shows myopia, greed and the entitlement mentality that defines JOHESU.

Also, and more importantly, the consultant is the person in charge of patient care and determines what tests, what drugs, what nursing care the patient needs and is indisputably the head of the team. He plays a vital central lead role and he determines who needs to see a pharmacist or a nurse or a lab technician. This comes with its challenges too, for instance, if any thing goes wrong in patient care, it is the consultant that carries the medicolegal burden. So of what use is the consultant pharmacist or nurse in this setting? The patient will only suffer and the standard of care will further depreciate as there will be confusion due to the many unnecessary captains of the ship who can do nothing more.

thorpido:
Before a group goes on strike,the government is given notice.If the government fails to meet them before they embark on strike,then they can't be blamed if they go on strike.
Unfortunately, they can't call off strike unless their needs are met or there is a negotiation.
I don't think a judge can just give an order to resume work.There are labour laws and the striking union obviously has lawyers too who know the law.Even if a judge orders,there can be an appeal.

The government is the one prolonging this issue.

DrAdonis:
This whole JOHESU thing is tiring. They are just fighting an unjust battle which is an eternally lost one. They just want to further destroy the healthcare in Nigeria.

Let me just explain one or two of what they are clamouring for the non medically inclined

1. Just because doctors are appointed consultants, they want same.
Let us examine who a consultant is in the hospital setting and his responsibilities. A consultant is a medical doctor who finished medical school, did housemanship and NYSC then writes an exam called primaries which is very tough and competitive with an average pass rate of 20% (not cause majority fail but they choose the top scores as pass) then work as a medical officer for varying years (some more than 10 years) before starting residency. The residency is the postgraduate studies to be come consultants in various specialities like neurosurgery, plastic surgery, Paediatrics etc.
The residency training is a rigorous one and the resident doctor works for no less than 68 hours in a week, runs the emergency, clinics, do ward rounds, teach medical students and even nursing and other students. The resident doctor also does case and seminar presentations carries out researches, writes academic papers and does a thesis (all these and more are necessary prerequisites to become a consultant). This residency takes 6 to 12 years depending on the specialty.

Also take note that a doctor that does not do residency but has 20 years work and surgical experience is not decorated a consultant.
So for a pharmacist, nurse or medical record personnel to just wake up and say because they have 10 years experience they should be decorated consultants is very laughable and shows myopia, greed and the entitlement mentality that defines JOHESU.

Also, and more importantly, the consultant is the person in charge of patient care and determines what tests, what drugs, what nursing care the patient needs and is indisputably the head of the team. This comes with its challenges too, for instance if any thing goes wrong in patient care, it is the consultant that carries the medicolegal burden. So of what use is the consultant pharmacist or nurse in this setting? The patient will only suffer and the standard of care will further depreciate as there will be confusion due to the many unnecessary captains of the ship.

thorpido:
Don't be like the average ignorant medical doctor.
Johesu members do NOT want the same thing doctors have.They DO NOT(as ignorantly broadcast everywhere) want the SAME salary as doctors.
They however WANT to advance their careers and ask for opportunities to do so.In developed countries,there are opportunities to become specialists/consultants in the allied health professions.There are consultant pharmacists abroad for example.
The clamour will set up postgraduate colleges that will provide postgraduate trainings that can enable health workers attain consultancy/specialist status.No one will become a consultant while doing youth service!
No confusion will come in the health sector.It has worked abroad,it can work in Nigeria too.Specialists can work as a team with each individual member making contribution to the team.There will be a leader who is still the doctor.

The NMA actually feel Johesu is going two drag positions with them and feel threatened. Not necessarily.It is a team work.
Erroneously, doctors nurses,pharmacists,lab personnel etc work FOR THEM.No!Everyone contributes to patient care.There just must be a leader.

MrRhymes101:
Pay them abeg! Why force them to call it off?? But this health workers took an oath to save lives na... Wedding MC

DrAdonis:
This whole JOHESU thing is tiring. They are just fighting an unjust battle which is an eternally lost one. They just want to further destroy the healthcare in Nigeria.

Let me just explain one or two of what they are clamouring for to those that are not very medically inclined

1. Just because doctors are appointed consultants, they want same. Let us examine who a consultant is in the hospital setting and his responsibilities.

A consultant is a medical doctor who finished medical school, did housemanship and NYSC then writes an exam called primaries which is very tough and competitive with an average pass rate of 20% (not cause majority fail but they choose the top scores as pass) then work as a medical officer for varying years (some more than 10 years) before starting residency. The residency is the postgraduate studies to be come consultants in various specialities like neurosurgery, plastic surgery, Paediatrics etc.
The residency training is a rigorous one and the resident doctor works for no less than 68 hours in a week, runs the emergency, clinics, do ward rounds, teach medical students and even nursing and other students. The resident doctor also does case and seminar presentations carries out researches, writes academic papers and does a thesis (all these and more are necessary prerequisites to become a consultant). This residency takes 6 to 12 years depending on the specialty and it also incorporates very tough specialty exams.

Also take note that a doctor that does not do residency but has 20 years of work and surgical experience is not decorated a consultant.
So for a pharmacist, nurse or medical record personnel to just wake up and say because they have 10 years experience they should be decorated consultants is very laughable and shows myopia, greed and the entitlement mentality that defines JOHESU.

Also, and more importantly, the consultant is the person in charge of patient care and determines what tests, what drugs, what nursing care the patient needs and is indisputably the head of the team. He plays a vital central lead role and he determines who needs to see a pharmacist or a nurse or a lab technician. This comes with its challenges too, for instance, if any thing goes wrong in patient care, it is the consultant that carries the medicolegal burden. So of what use is the consultant pharmacist or nurse in this setting? The patient will only suffer and the standard of care will further depreciate as there will be confusion due to the many unnecessary captains of the ship who can do nothing more.


2. The want equal pay. This is in no way reasonable to any right thinking person as doctors don't do same work or add same value as any other person in the health sector. Is it in the emergency room, theatre or even laboratory?

Let me paint a scenario here. A 55year old doctor with say 25years experience that is a neurosurgeon, for instance, will frequently stand long hours doing very complex surgeries despite his rank, age and status. But a nurse, pharmacist or lab person with similar age and experience will just sit in the ward, pharmacy or lab bossing and tossing the younger ones about, doing absolutely nothing. They add little to no value and are no match in competency or ability but want same pay and remuneration, what an irritating greed and entitlement mentality. All these can only happen in Nigeria

Attached is a comparison of the ratio of the average earnings of healthcare professionals in different countries. In most cases, doctors earn x2 of what pharmacists and others earn but because of a difference of 20 - 50k naira at different levels, they keep going on strike.