Is it not an act of utter folly for JOHESU (Joint Health Sector Unions) to issue another ultimatum threatening federal government to embark on another strike in the health sector? I think a time has come for federal government to tackle the crisis in the health sector frontally ,there is no need for this 'mending wall' approach that federal government has been using to tackle the problem. Marthin Luther king  junior said, 'there is no acceptance of the principles of evading the solutions to a problem by adjustment to circumstances rather the task is to adjust the circumstances to our own requirements.' The  government should know that even Joshua in the bible made it clear when he asked the Israelites to choose between the Almighty God and other gods.

 

There is no way federal government can appease both NMA and JOHESU even the law court will not placate the two rivals .

    

I think federal government should allow them proceed with their proposed strike while all their salaries should be stopped immediately,they can go to court. I wonder how we Africans reason at times,is there anywhere in the world where doctors and non-doctors receive the same amount of salaries?I am asking this question because while reading some of the demands  made by MHWUN(Medical and Health Workers Union Of Nigeria) to Yayale Ahmed 's presidential committee on inter-professional relationship in public sector,they demanded that: salary relativity should be equitable ,ensuring that there is a single salary structure in health sector ;entry points for all graduates in the health sector to be level 9.  I chose to comment on only these two demands among other annoying demands made by other affiliate unions of JOHESU .

     

In view of the above ,how can the air hostess believe that she will receive the same amount of salary as the pilot  just because both are involved in the flight? At times we Africans behave as fools,how can somebody in his right frame of mind believe that a soldier who passed through NDA(Nigerian Defence Academy) will receive the same amount of salary with a member of Nigerian security and civil defence corps just because both are involved in a peace keeping mission?That was exactly why a group of people sat down and concocted the  demands that were imprudent. They want doctors and JOHESU members( who either failed out from medicine and surgery and later later found their ways in one of the paramedical courses or could not pass the JAMB UTME admissions into medicine)to receive the same amount of salary,is that not madness?If I use sarcastic words on them ,many will blame me for not being civil. How can the local government chairmen want to receive the same amount of salaries with governors  just because they are all political leaders and you tell me it is not time to refer them to the psychiatrists?

     

Meanwhile,I spent four years of my productive life in a paramedical course and when I understood  the scheme of things in the health profession and the true meaning of 'para' in the term 'paramedical course',I simply changed over to medicine and surgery.  What a determination ?

 

As that was not enough,when we changed over to medicine ,we were compelled  to step down  for one year in line with the then rule in the faculty hence completing my wasted years to five, a girl in our group refused and changed to pharmacy but many of us persevered and today we are medical doctors.

 

Now,tell me why if I were  a military administrator today,why I would not include the names of these medical insurgents among the twelve soldiers that were recently sentenced to death by firing squad?The  army called it mutiny but I call what these JOHESU members   are doing  in our health sector mutiny and insurrection  and section 33(2) of CFRN does not guarantee  right to life for anybody participating in insurrection or mutiny. This is because these paramedical workers are trained to take instructions from the doctors at all times hence if we must work as a team,the doctor must be the team leader and anything apart from that will be regarded as insurrection or mutiny.

    

Can the reverend sisters receive the same treatments and  salaries as reverend fathers even when they are all workers in the lord's vineyard or will the honourable members of the House of Representatives receive the same salaries as distinguished  senators even when they are all members of the  national  assembly?Is it not madness if doctors start clamouring to be called matrons ,chief medical laboratory scientists,chief pharmacists etc?

 

Why will a policeman  want to be a  chief of army staff and a soldier  want to be called an  inspector general of police?That is the product of job dissatisfaction. The  most annoying aspect of all this rubbish is that most of these medical insurgents  could not pass their JAMB UTME into medicine and surgery while  some of them who forced themselves into medicine finally failed out in the second MBBS professional examination and  now they want to meet up with doctors at all costs .Many of them  smartly changed to paramedical courses after failing out of medicine .Some of them have the audacity of answering  medical  doctors in their  localities hence  the need for them to be  at par with the real medical doctors at all costs.

     

If federal government will listen to my  professional piece of advice,let them allow JOHESU members to proceed with their threatened strike while their salaries will be suspended immediately but they should be warned that they should not lock up any of the offices belonging to the hospitals,they should borrow a leaf from the doctors who withdrew their services and the keys to all the offices handed over to the appropriate authorities.  Believe you me,if doctors are paid well with all their arrears/relativity,the hospital will move on in the absence of JOHESU members. The chief medical directors will simply engage the services of private firms to provide services such as cleaning,security,maintenance,clerical work and any other services provided by the JOHESU members.

     

Meanwhile ,as the government applies the principle of no work no pay,they will be divided among themselves,those that really understand the difference between paramedical and medical courses will be allowed to come back to work after having sworn affidavit stating clearly that they will, humbly and respectfully,carry out the instructions given by the doctors and that they will not embark on any more strike. Also,in the affidavit,they will specify that the positions of chief medical directors and consultants are exclusive preserve of doctors .

 

Those JOHESU members that insist on heading medical consultants(who are fellows of national and/or west African postgraduate medical colleges)with their first degrees and RN certificate(which is equal to or less than OND certificate) will then be allowed to proceed to  High court/National Industrial Court,after which an appeal will be made in the appellate court and finally another appeal will culminate in the supreme court. Believe you me before the final judgement will be passed by the supreme court,nature must have removed these bad eggs among them through starvation,insolvency and psychological trauma.

      

Meanwhile,let us examine the functions of these JOHESU members in our current tertiary  hospitals. The pharmacists have turned to sales boys and girls in our pharmacy departments. They will brag with drug formulations which do not take place in our tertiary hospitals. Almost all the drugs used in this country are imported because every pharmacists in the country want to either  work in the tertiary hospitals in order to cut their own 'national cake' or work as sale's representatives for drugs imported into the country ,what a waste of human resources. Their work now is to sit down and dispense all the drugs prescribed by the doctors even when many of the pharmacy shops owned by the pharmacists in our communities make use of SSCE holders and auxiliary nurses to sell their drugs to the members of the public. If you doubt me ,carry out your investigations in your own communities.

 

However ,when you come to the government owned hospitals ,the reverse is the case,people that spent five good years in the university will be sitting down doing the work of sales ladies and boys and at the end of the day,they want to be 'crowned or ordained' consultants. My question is,consultant in what? Is it consultant in drug selling or dispensing? What professional input do they make to the management of the patient that ordinary unskilled sale's boys/girls in  drug shops cannot make?

    

Considering the medical laboratory scientists,their functions are fast going into extinction ,many tests are done with strips and many machines are now automated. What are they still doing in our laboratories? We can start internship programmes for microbiologists and biochemists so that they will handle microbiology and chemical tests in our laboratories .If you doubt what I am saying,go to many medical laboratory firms in your localities owned by the medical laboratory scientists and find out the workers that they make use of,it will surprise you that many of their workers are SSCE holders who were given on-the-job training while the lenient ones among them will simply employ the services of laboratory technicians with OND or HND certificates. This is because many of them know that their job does not require any skill hence no need of employing who they will pay huge amount of money.

      

This is exactly how it is to other paramedical professions among JOHESU members but the problem is that nobody will reveal this secret to our government and those who should reveal these secrets to the government are treading with caution because they don't want to be shown the way out of government ,they understand that the principle in Nigeria is for one to remain politically relevant at all times. When one is occupied with work,one will not think about the issue of leadership but an idle man ,they say, is devil's workshop.

 

This is important because even in our tertiary hospitals  there are some doctors working there that can NEVER be consultants and chief medical consultants. These doctors are called medical officers and they are permanent staff of the hospital the same way that every member of JOHESU is a permanent staff of the hospital .These doctors know that no matter their many years in the hospitals,they can never be chief medical directors and can never answer consultants.

 

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