HEALTH professionals, under the aegis of the Joint Health Workers Union (JOHESU), may begin an indefinite nationwide strike from April 29 if the Federal Government refuses to meet their demands during the next negotiating meeting slated for last week of April. 

 

National President of the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), Mr. Felix Olukayode-Faniran, one of the union leaders of JOHESU, who made the plan known in Lagos yesterday, said Nigerians should not blame health workers if the planned strike becomes a reality. 

 

Olukayode-Faniran also revealed that JOHESU members are planning to make a visit to House of Representatives to protest some contentious areas in the National Health Bill that were not dealt with by the Senate. 

 

JOHESU is made up of five unions in health sector, namely the Medical and Health Workers’ Unions of Nigeria (MHWUN), National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutions and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI), Nigeria Union of Pharmacists, Technologists and Professions Allied to Medicine (NUPMTAM) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU).

 

Speaking during a press briefing to announce the formal launching of NUAHP, formerly NUPMTAM, Olukayode-Faniran said health workers, under JOHESU, have been refraining from strike “because of our love for Nigerians”, adding that “our demands have not been met.”

 

Olukayode-Faniran appealed to Nigerians to plead with the Federal Government to grant JOHESU’s demands, some of which he said, have been awarded to the union by courts. 

 

JOHESU had gone on a three-day warning strike from January 22 to 24, after which the Federal Government mandated a committee headed by Secretary to the Federal Government, Anyim Pius Anyim, to negotiate with health workers. 

 

One of the contentious areas of demands by the union has been refusal of Federal Government, led by the Ministry of Health, to implement National Industrial Court judgment. The court, in its judgment, stated that JOHESU members should continue to skip Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) 10, that specialists allowance should be paid to JOHESU members, that JOHESU members should continue to be recognised as consultants, retirement age of health workers be reviewed upward from 60 to 65 years of age.   

 

Olukayode-Faniran added that although progress has been made in the National Health Bill, there were still some contentious areas that JOHESU members were still aggrieved about. 

 

The physiotherapist noted that health professionals are seeking a change of Section 5 of the National Health Bill, which deals on composition of National Council of Health, adding that the Council should be enlarged to include two representatives each of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), JOHESU and Assembly of Health Professionals. 

 

By Joseph Okoghenun