The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Health workers

  • Health workers give govt 15-day strike notice

    Health workers give govt 15-day strike notice

    Health workers have issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to implement outstanding agreements it entered into with them.

    They said they would go on an indefinites strike, if the government fails to release the circulars that would back the negotiated issues.

    The health workers, under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Assembly of Health Professionals Association (AHPA) addressed reporters yesterday in Abuja on their grievances.

    On May 10, 2012, there was an agreement between the Federal Ministry of Health and JOHESU over five important issues.

    These include the reconstitution of the boards of tertiary health institutions; promotion of its members from CONHESS 14 to 15 as directors; increase in retirement age from 60 to 65 years; implementation of the 2008 job evaluation report; implementation of the Abdullahi Bello Presidential Committee Report on Harmony in the Health sector.

    The workers criticised the Federal Government for reneging on its agreement to please the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).

    JOHESU said the NMA threatened to embark on strike, if the government honoured some of its (JOHESU’s) demands.

    Mr. Felix Faniran, the National President of Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), spoke yesterday on behalf of the group.

    He said the unions had been negotiating with the government for over the issues, adding that the government turned back because of the threat by NMA.

  • Health workers give govt 15-day strike notice

    Health workers have issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to implement outstanding agreements it entered into with them.

    They said they would go on an indefinites strike, if the government fails to release the circulars that would back the negotiated issues.

    The health workers, under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Assembly of Health Professionals Association (AHPA) addressed reporters yesterday in Abuja on their grievances.

    On May 10, 2012, there was an agreement between the Federal Ministry of Health and JOHESU over five important issues.

    These include the reconstitution of the boards of tertiary health institutions; promotion of its members from CONHESS 14 to 15 as directors; increase in retirement age from 60 to 65 years; implementation of the 2008 job evaluation report; implementation of the Abdullahi Bello Presidential Committee Report on Harmony in the Health sector.

    The workers criticised the Federal Government for reneging on its agreement to please the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).

    JOHESU said the NMA threatened to embark on strike, if the government honoured some of its (JOHESU’s) demands.

    Mr. Felix Faniran, the National President of Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), spoke yesterday on behalf of the group.

    He said the unions had been negotiating with the government for over the issues, adding that the government turned back because of the threat by NMA.

  • Policy to protect health workers coming

    Policy to protect health workers coming

    A policy that will protect health workers from work hazards while performing their duties is in the offing. The Secretary, FCT Health Secretariat, Dr Ademola Onakomaiya revealed this at a press briefing in Abuja.

    This is coming on the heels of the information that about 100 health workers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have so far contracted Hepatitis B, HIV and AIDS and other diseases due to poor disposal of medical waste.

    The workers are said to have contracted these diseases from careless disposal of injections and other medical wastes.

    Dr. Ademola Onakomaiya said that the administration, in accordance with international best practices, has approved the FCT healthcare waste management guidelines to curtail the disposal of such waste in the FCT.

    Onakomaiya said in Abuja that the administration will spend N300 yearly in the next three years to its target.

    He said: “The Minister directed that the old policy be streamlined into guidelines for a more suitable FCT waste management policy within the next few weeks, to formulate guideline that will be broad and holistic in approach towards healthcare waste management.

    “The reason for this guideline is for public health workers who are prone to dangers of contracting hepatitis B, HIV and AIDS and other diseases to have a guideline to follow for medical waste management.”

  • Health workers reject exclusion from boards of teaching hospitals

    Assembly of healthcare professional associations has kicked against the recent reconstituted management boards of federal teaching hospitals.

    The group decried the exclusion of its members from the board of the 15 federal teaching hospitals in the country, contrary to the provisions of the enabling law.

    ACT Cap U15 2004 L.F.N.

    Section of the Act states: “Each board shall consist of a chairman, who shall be appointed by the president on the recommendation of the minister and the following other members.”

    While subsection (1) states: “0ne representative of other professionals in the health field, not being staff of the hospital concerned.”

    The assembly comprises Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Association of Radiographers of Nigeria (ARN), Nigerian Society of Physiotherapy (NSP) and Health Information Managers Association of Nigeria (HIMAN).

    Consequently, the group has given the Federal Government up till May 22 to reverse the trend or face industrial action.

  • Killing of health workers outrageous – Ban

    Killing of health workers outrageous – Ban

    The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, on Monday condemned last week killing of 12 health workers in northern Nigeria.

    Nine female health workers were killed by unknown gunmen in Kano last Friday, while three North Korean doctors lost their lives a day later.

    In a statement released late on Monday, the UN chief expressed hope that “such outrageous” attacks do limit access to essential health services by vulnerable people.

    Offering his condolences to the victims’ families, Mr. Ban stated that “those killed were working selflessly to provide basic life-saving interventions to the most vulnerable people.

    He added that “such attacks severely limit health workers access to the populations who need them most and could have devastating effects in the fight to improve the health of people everywhere.”

    He stressed that “acts of outrageous violence” toward health workers around the world are unacceptable.

    Mr. Ban therefore called on all countries to protect health workers so that they can continue to better the health of populations and save lives.

    United States billionaire and Polio Campaign donor in Nigeria, Mr. Bill Gates, had earlier stated that the killings were unacceptable, expressing similar sentiments which the UN scribe has now repeated as well.

     

     

     

  • Health workers march on National Assembly

    Health workers march on National Assembly

    Three thousand health workers under the umbrella of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) yesterday stormed the National Assembly, demanding the sack of the Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu.

    The workers, who first visited the Federal Ministry of Health headquarters at the Federal Secretariat, could not get the attention of the minister and headed for the National Assembly.

    Officials of the ministry told the protesters that the minister was before the National Assembly.

    Before yesterday, a group comprising medical and health workers’ union, nurses and midwives, pharmacists, technologists, workers of health-allied institutions and research establishments, had been involved in a protracted disagreement with the Health Ministry over the conditions in the health sector and the National Health Bill.

    Alleging that the minister was bias, they accused him of turning the Ministry of Health into a “Ministry of Doctors.”