Health workers under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, and Assembly of Health Professional Association, AHPA, have resolved to sue doctors working in public hospitals for embarking on a strike that has entered a third week.

Doctors, under the auspices of Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, suspended services nationwide 21 days ago to force government meet their 24-point demand.

Efforts to pacify them by government and concerned stakeholders have since been futile.

Rising from its two-day meeting over the strike in Abuja at the weekend, the workers said NMA had no legitimacy to embark on strike.

Part of the communiqué signed by the General Secretary, National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, NANNM, Yusuf Badmus, on behalf of the workers reads: “JOHESU is aware of the pressure being mounted on government, either to distort facts or suspend important existing circulars meant for other health professionals, to pacify the striking medical practitioners.

“Should such discrimination occur against other health professionals, situation in the health sector will become more complicated and uncontrollable.

“The meeting condemns the attitude of Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, and Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, MDCAN, for embarking on strike simply because the Federal Government agreed to implement legitimate agreements and memorandum of understanding between JOHESU/ AHPA and Federal Government spanning between 2009 to date.

“It describes the strike of NMA and MDCAN as illegal, unnecessary and callous and, therefore, calls on the leadership to suspend its strike without further delay, more so, that NMA and its allied associations are not registered trade unions and should not have embarked on the strike since they lack legitimacy to embark on industrial action.

“JOHESU/AHPA leadership has, therefore, resolved to drag NMA and its allied associations to National Industrial Court, NIC, for embarking on strike without being a registered trade union.”

A similar statement signed by Badmus and made available to National Mirror yesterday called on the Federal Government to abolish the ownership of hospitals by doctors working in government health facilities in the country.

The statement, signed on behalf of the NANNM,alleged that the doctors use “their incessant strikes as a gimmick to further divert innocent patients to their private clinics where they stand to benefit.”

NANNM, however, appealed to Nigerians not to lose hope in the nation’s public hospitals as a result of the doctors’ strike.

According to the association, other health officials are available at the hospitals that can meet their health needs, except those requiring surgical procedures basically handled by the doctors.

While condemning the action of the doctors, NANNM advised that “government revert to the era when administrators administered the hospitals while health professionals, including doctors, do their professional duties that they are being paid for.”

Besides, NANNM slammed the NMA President, Kayofe Obembe, for claiming to train nurses in his facility, which they claimed was against medical practice in the country.

“The current NMA President, Dr. Obembe, who is a general medical practitioner, claims he trains nurses in his hospital as auxiliary nurses and he uses them as ‘hand maids’ who as a routine do un-glove him (Dr. Obembe) after any procedure or operation, and that failure to make the nurses do that will cost him (Dr. Obembe) his practising license as a general practitioner.

“NANNM hereby capitalises on the above statement to educate the Nigerian public that the law for the training and licensing of nurses and midwives is the responsibility of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria through the accredited schools of nursing and universities.

“Any training of nurses outside the approved institutions by N&MCN amounts to churning out quacks and illegality in its entirety.

“We, therefore, call on the N&MCN to immediately visit hospitals across the country and take up its statutory responsibility to eradicate quacks in the nursing profession not only in some quack private hospitals where they are causing more harm than good, but also in some hospitals that claim to train nurses,” the group added.