• Plateau, Kano cluster farms affected • Health unions’ strike paralyses JUTH

THE Federal Government has started paying compensations for the over 1.4 million birds destroyed early this year to stamp out bird influenza that hit poultry farms.

Executive Director, National Veterinary Research Institute, Dr. Mohammed Ahmed, told newsmen in Vom, near Jos that 18 states were affected by the flu, which last case was reported on May 28.

He said that 800 suspicions were diagnosed in the institute’s laboratory out of which 500 tested positive to the disease.

“Payment of compensation for the destroyed birds is already in progress; it started and stopped at a point, but it has resumed,” the NVRI boss said.

Ahmed observed that the compensation was being handled by the Federal Government and appealed to the states to help by initiating steps to assist farmers.

“Since it is the economies of the affected states that are being largely affected, the states should augment the compensation as they did during the first outbreak years ago.

The NVRI boss singled out Plateau and Kano as states with the largest concentration of cluster farms, and explained that the flu usually spread faster and engulf more birds in cluster farms.

Meanwhile, activities have been grounded following the indefinite strike embarked upon by all the health unions of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).

President of Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) in the hospital, Dr. Joseph Innocent Nankat, in an interview affirmed that there is industrial disharmony in JUTH and the resident doctors have been on strike since June 10.

On the reason for the strike, Nankat recalled that from first July to 28th of August 2014, Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) called out for a strike. He said the issues of the strike were categorized into 24-point demand which was briefly summarized into three main issues which includes Universal Health Insurance coverage and improvement of health care system in Nigeria, the issues of clinical governance which demands that doctors are the head of health care delivery system and the third is about the welfare of doctors which concerns correct emoluments to be paid to them.

He said that the Federal Government had attended to the three basic demands of the doctors and made financial provision backed by directive through circular to the NMA and all hospitals for its implementation but the management of JUTH has refused to implement even as Federal Government issued a circular for full implementation of correct emoluments to resident doctors.

According to him, the Federal Government cash-backed the agreement with the NMA and directed various hospitals to implement the correct emoluments for their doctors. He said most hospitals have heeded to the Federal Government’s directive, which was captured in the circular and implemented their resident doctors’ correct emoluments but lamented that the case of JUTH is quite unusual because the non-doctors have their full salary structures paid to them while the management has refused to pay the doctors the new correct salaries.

Nankat said that the second issue in JUTH, which the doctors have talked to the management overtime is about lack of basic drugs and other medically required working tools/ equipment which are often needed in case of emergencies during day time or at night but are grossly lacking in the hospital.

Ahmed added, “The states should specifically help in the design of poultry farms to encourage bio-security of the farms.”