FMC Owerri: When Supposed Professionals Turn Comedians
It is laughable and at times unimaginable how professionals who can perfectly fit in as comedians finally find themselves in the health sector. There is no law in Nigeria that states that one must practice one’s profession, in fact the highest paid Nollywood star, Mr Nkem Owoh, is an engineer by profession but when he saw his calling was more as a comedian than a practising engineer, he gladly pursued that path and today many of his classmates in Engineering may not measure up with him in terms of achievements and popularity.
Believe you me, some members of JOHESU can do better than Mr Nkem Owoh, also popularly called Osuofia Nwaezeigbo . The likes of Kenneth Okonkwo and Funke Akindele, just to mention only but a few, are lawyers by profession but Nollywood stars by occupation. St Paul, my namesake in the bible, was a lawyer by profession and a tentmaker by occupation. Our supposed neighbours in the health sector are not optimally utilising their talents and we all know the consequences when one refuses to properly make use of one’s talent as narrated in the Parable of The Talents (Matthew 25:14-30).
How can one explain the show of shame called protest on October 25, 2016 by the national leadership of JOHESU and her sister unions? They came to Show solidarity with their members at FMC Owerri in what they mischievously described as a protest against police brutality of their members. To them, any of their members is immune from policing when they break any law of the land. They lopsidedly and mischievously accused the embattled medical director of the hospital with corruption, nepotism ,highhandedness and et cetera but the matter was thoroughly investigated and the embattled medical director of the hospital was cleared of the allegations levelled against her by an independent panel from the federal ministry of Health Abuja. However, these comedians said no that Dr (Mrs) Angela Uwakwem is guilty as charged because they know her continued stay at FMC Owerri is a threat to their collective embezzling abilities and unprofessional conducts.
Immediately the news of her reinstatement filtered in the hospital, the JOHESU members took the laws into their own hands by rioting within the hospital premises without recourse to the fact that the patients who are our common goals are in dire need of our services and many of them are lost during such senseless riot. As comedians, they either did not know the difference between riot and peaceful protest or that they mischievously decided to create chaos in the hospital so that the reinstatement could be reversed. They did not know that the rights to life of rioters are not guaranteed in s.33(2c) of the constitution of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria( CFRN),as amended, which states, inter alia: A person shall not be regarded as having been deprived of his life in contravention of this section, if he dies as a result of the use ,to such extent and in such circumstances as are permitted by the law, of such force(s), as is reasonably necessary.....for the purpose of suppressing a riot ,insurrection or mutiny.’ These comedians had the effrontery of accusing the police of brutality when they flagrantly disobeyed the laws of the land. They should rather commend and not condemn the Imo state commissioner of police who displayed the highest level of professionalism in quelling the riot fomented by the JOHESU members.
It has to be noted that, it was the same comedians that wasted our precious time in the National Industrial Court Of Nigeria, seeking the interpretative meaning of the phrase, ’medically-qualified’. Everybody can now see why many Tertiary institutions insist on every candidate having at least a credit in English language at the O’ Level before gaining admission into their institutions.
Regrettably, the nefarious activities of the so-called ‘miracle centres’ and many secondary schools that aid examination malpractices in external examinations normally produce individuals with credits in English language when such individuals could not have scored anything better than E8 or F9 in English language if unaided.
Very soon, these comedians may approach the court to know the difference between a paramedical professional and a medical professional or to differentiate a military officer from a paramilitary officer. I thought they could argue from the angle that one of their courses, Medical laboratory science, has ‘medical’ in its name hence the holders of such certificates are medically qualified, then I will ask them if having a tax certificate makes one a tax officer or if having a legal document makes one a lawyer.
Honestly, these comedians are really entertaining us in the health sector, they know when to introduce comic relief to ease off some tension in the sector. When the Yayale Ahmed presidential report was being awaited, they accused NMA of delaying the report as if Yayale Ahmed was an NMA member. Their incessant noises sent chills down my spine but when the report came out, they made a volte-face and started calling Yayale Ahmed different names.
What does it take these guys to know that one minus two can never be same as two minus one? They need to be told that working in a banking premises does not make one a banker as there are cleaners, messengers, security men et cetera in the banking premises.
These comedians ignorantly tell us about the Rule of Law, which I believe they know nothing about. Do they even know that Dr (Mrs) Angela Uwakwem as a citizen has an inalienable right to dignity as contained in s.34 of CFRN. Do they know that the fulcrum of Rule Of Law, they claim to know, is the Supremacy of the constitution and our constitution in s.36(5) states that ‘ Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he(she) is proved guilty.’ But JOHESU has charged, tried and convicted Dr Uwakwem in their widest imaginations. I heard their national body has mandated them to proceed on an indefinite strike. This is the time for the federal government to wield the big stick as lawlessness in our civil service can no longer be tolerated.
First, the salaries of the striking workers should be stopped immediately because I am not aware of any law that says that a worker will be paid when he/she has not worked. It is morally and economically wrong and even unthinkable, supplying food (through payment of salaries) to your enemy during the time of ‘war’.
Is it not after eating that an enemy will have the free energy to fight? Hunger and insolvency are the surest ways of bringing individuals back to their natural senses. No wonder almost all religions recommend fasting as a way of bringing people back to their natural sense which in the long run will draw them nearer to their creator.
This is the time for the management of the federal medical centre, Owerri to engage the services of locum workers especially the graduate nurses who have all this while been restricted and permanently subjugated by their RN/RM wielding senior counterparts in their profession. This is the time to reach out to the members of UGONSA, which is an umbrella body for all graduate nurses not those with certificates little above WAEC and NECO.
This is the time to fully implement the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for all ancillary services in the hospital. JOHESU in their characteristic nature cannot come out to truly tell Nigerians that the main reason they are after the head of Dr ( Mrs) Angela Uwakwem is her ‘temerity’ to introduce PPP in the laboratory section of the hospital.
With PPP, embezzlement of hospital funds will die a natural death and every worker in the hospital will face his/her work and not to be forming different unions, if it is not Medical and Health Workers Union or Joint Health Sector Unions, it will be Assembly of Healthcare Professionals et cetera, these amorphous unions are in addition to their individual professional associations. Our labour law prohibits professionals rendering Essential services from embarking on any strike. That is why the military, the paramilitary and et cetera do not embark on strike and I seriously believe that Healthcare service is also part of the Essential services.
The striking workers should be warned that no law permits them to lock up the hospital or to paralyse the activities in the hospital and they have no right to molest or threaten any worker who refuses to embark on this senseless strike. They should also be reminded that absent from work with no reason/official leave is punishable with outright dismissal from the civil service and after dismissal, any of them that feels aggrieved should approach any of the High courts ( preferably the National Industrial Court Of Nigeria) as contained in s.46 of CFRN and I need not teach the legal advisers to FMC Owerri on how to make the case run for a minimum of ten years to serve as a deterrent to other dissidents that may arise in future.
The striking workers who are manning patients on life support machines should be reminded that all the laws setting up their individual professions made it obligatory for them to supervise the proper transfer of those patients before embarking on any strike. Finally, my advice to the federal government is for them to be very careful in handling this matter to avoid setting a bad precedent where any leader who refuses to allow workers embezzle public funds will be labelled corrupt.
This is because if JOHESU and her sister unions in the health sector are sure of their pieces of evidence against Dr ( Mrs) Angela Uwakwem they will allow the court decide but due to the fact that they are cocksure that all these allegations against her are fictitious and false, they cannot wait for the court to exonerate her as the independent panel of enquiry ( mainly populated by JOHESU guys ) from the Federal Ministry Of Health exonerated her. All they want now is for her to give way so that impunity can continue in the centre. What did JOHESU achieve in FMC Owerri, except ‘ Chop make I Chop’ all this while madam was on an administrative leave ,if she is truly the problem of the hospital?
Dr Paul John
Port Harcourt, Rivers state,[email protected],08083658038