FG suspends sack of resident doctors …as JOHESU begins nationwide strike
The federal government on Wednesday suspended the sack of members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) pending the conclusion of the ongoing negotiations on the matter.
This was part of the resolutions reached at the mediatory meeting initiated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, between the federal government's delegation and leaders of NARD.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, was quoted to have suspended the sack as part of the decision taken at the mediatory meeting with NARD.
According to Adewole, 'We will do everything humanly possible to implement all the decisions arrived at in this meeting, including the fact the circular sacking Resident doctors be ignored by all the parties concerned.'
At the meeting, it was reported that the 'Ministry of Health was to come up with list of those entitle to skipping and the amount and when they will pay them in one week. Forty two (42) institutions that have not been implementing skipping should be asked to commence implementation immediately.
'Committee of CMDs to meet in one week and implement skipping by June and any CMD that is unable to pay should appear at the next meeting on July 14. The judgment of the Industrial Court must be executed.
'That by First week of July guidelines on Residency Training will be made available.'
Part of the resolutions also include 'entry point for House Officers should be from Commess 9 step 4. Or 1 step 1. It should be implemented immediately by the Chief Medical Directors. They should also start implementing pensions immediately
'The Resident Doctors Association to make available records of all those sacked unfaily to the Ministry of Health. Minister of Health should issue a circular to CMDs to review the issue of those sacked unfairly without recourse to the earlier circular detailing the template to be followed. Circular to be send out on Wednesday June 22nd 2016 by the Minister to all health institutions and Federal Medical Centres running the Residency programme.'
Meanwhile, the relative peace in the health sector Wednesday suffered another setback as all health workers in Federal Government hospitals embarked on a 7-day nationwide warning strike.
Health workers under the auspices of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), and the National Association of Resident Doctors, (NARD), embarked on an indefinite strike to pressure the government to meet their demands.
Patients were left unattended even as pharmacists, record officers and lab scientists among others shunned essential services.
In a jointly signed statement, the Medical and Health workers under the auspices of Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, and the Assembly of Health care Professionals, AHPA, expressed displeasure over what they described as Federal government nonchalant attitude' .
In an interview with Vanguard, Chairman, JOHESU, Shaba Johnson Adetokunbo explained that the leadership of JOHESU has met with the Ministry of Labour but the meeting ended in deadlock. He queried why government would continue to dishonour agreements it entered into with the union.
'We have just started a 7 days warning strike this morning. Basically all the workers in every federal government hospitals are on strike.
The government wants a new negotiation. But we are saying that an agreement is an agreement. If you take over an organisation you will also be ready to take over the assets and liabilities. Government is a continuous process. - Thisday, Vanguard.