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JOHESU’s Suspended Strike As Opportunity To End Strikes In Health Sector

By Joseph Okoghenun
06 February 2015   |   11:00 pm
AFTER 13 weeks of strike, medical workers and professionals under the umbrella of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) finally found a soft ground to suspend their strike early this week.     While many Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief over the suspension, it is   however doubtful whether the suspension will be the end…

Faniran-7-2-15

AFTER 13 weeks of strike, medical workers and professionals under the umbrella of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) finally found a soft ground to suspend their strike early this week. 

   While many Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief over the suspension, it is   however doubtful whether the suspension will be the end of strikes in the health sector.  

    JOHESU began its indefinite nationwide strike on November 12 over issues bordering on alleged refusal by the Federal Government   to implement signed agreements.  Some of the demands of the union included the immediate release of the circular on extension of retirement age for health workers, full payment of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) 10 salary arrears of members, among other seven demands.

  While the strike lasted, patients were the worst hit, as some   of them died of diseases   that could have been easily taken care   of in teaching hospitals. Many other patients however sought health care in private facilities which benefited from the strike.

   Speaking with The Guardian on why JOHESU suspended   the   strike, JOHESU’s Vice President, Mr. Felix Faniran, said the suspension was a result of intense discussion   between   the union and President Goodluck Jonathan. “We had a private meeting with President Jonathan    on Sunday evening in President Jonathan’s private residence. From our observation, we noticed that the Health Minister never presented the report of our meeting of December 22 to   the president.   The president however appealed to us to end the strike, saying that he was ready to do everything possible    to end strikes   in the   health sector.  

   “He explained that that   was why he set up the Yayale Ahmed Committee.  And when we complained to him   about our grievances against Yayale Ahmed Committee report, he told   us   that when   the white paper on the report is ready, we shall be invited    to make our input before a final   decision will be taken on the report, so   that there will not be area   of conflicts.  He   urged   us to suspend   the strike, adding   that after the elections, he would call   us to look at the issues again.  

   “Based   on our discussions, he directed    the Minister    of Health   to hold a meeting with us the next day, and the latter did. We suspended   the strike during a joint press conference between   the Health   Minister and JOHESU,” Faniran said.

   Faniran, who   is also the President of the National Union   of Allied Health Professionals  (NUAPH), added: “We at NUAPH have also suspended   our strike.”

   NUAPH, which had been   on strike before the JOHESU nationwide strike, consists of key health professionals, such as physiotherapists, medical laboratory scientists, medical radiographers, pharmacists, optometrists and dieticians. The union has been at the heart   of the struggle   to bequeath equity and international best practices   to the health sector.     

  Could the intervention by the president   to   suspend strike not have been part of politics to win next week’s election? Faniran does not think so. The physiotherapist said:  “As far as we concerned, we are   not interested in   the politics    of bitterness. Part of the reason we took the decision    to suspend the strike was   to ensure that either party (PDP and APC) does   not   impugn any insinuation   on the strike. Although the president has not met   our demands, we just met for the first time.  We do not want to input any political meaning   into   the president’s action. 

   “If we had insisted on waiting after the elections before suspending the strike, Nigerians would have suffered more. Since we have met with him as the highest authority    in the land, courtesy demands   that we should respect   his office and give him the benefit   of doubt.  If   we had told Nigerians that the president pleaded   with us to suspend   the strike and   yet we were adamant, Nigerians would   have abused us, saying we did not have respect for authority. Whether he has played politics with the strike suspension, as far as we are concerned, we are apolitical.” 

   While the strike lasted, the nation experienced the absurd in the healthcare system.  While medical practitioners   in Abuja and Asaba alleged that health workers under JOHESU were attacking them, JOHESU members in Asaba accused    the   medical professionals   of running hospitals in the city with quacks. 

    In Lagos, the Lagos   State Government forced   the striking health workers   to render skeletal health services. In the spirit of the strike, nurses, medical laboratory scientists, pharmacists and radiographers came to work only to attend to patients   in mufti, a practice which is against medical ethics.  It is a global practice for medical workers to wear lab coat or shrub while attending to patients. The practice is aimed at protecting   medical workers against infectious diseases. 

     Also, as part   of the fall out of the strike, professional associations, including the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Association Of Medical Laboratory Scientists Of Nigeria (AMLSN) and Nigeria Society For Physiotherapists (NSP) threatened to drag their members   in the private sector into the strike, if the demands of JOHESU were not addressed within a week. 

    It is expected that with suspension, the president will use the opportunity to end strikes   in the healthcare sector. Some observers believe that one strategy that may help in this direction is for the   president to appoint a non-medical personnel as Health Minister.  That was   the strategy that saved the healthcare system during Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime when he appointed Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, a health economist, as Health Minister.  Most of the recent Health Ministers, observers say, have shown bias   for medical practitioners to the detriment   of   other medical workers and the healthcare system. 

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