Accuse Senate of refusing to amend bill

THE country might be in for a total shutdown of the health sector, if the Presidency does not provide concrete evidence of having started implementation of agreements reached with health workers, at a meeting between the two parties scheduled for Thursday, March 13, 2014.

    The health workers, who include pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists, radiographers, medical laboratory scientists and health information managers, Monday at a press briefing in Lagos said: “We find it necessary to alert the nation once again that the final opportunity to redress our numerous grievances has tentatively been shifted till March 13, 2014 when we shall review all contentious health issues with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation at a meeting. 

    “After a review of that meeting, our members will be mobilised to champion their liberties through lawful procedures.”

   The health workers under the aegis of Assembly of Healthcare Practitioners Association (AHPA) and Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) include the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy (NSP), Association of Radiographers of Nigeria (ARN), Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), Health Information Managers Association of Nigeria (HIMAN).

    President, AMLSN and Chairman AHPA, Dr. Godswill C. Okara, accused the National Assembly (NASS) of refusal to amend Section 1(1) of the National Health Bill 2014, which was still reflected as in the original draft by the Senate recently.

    Okara said the unions reject the proposed change of the scheme of service of health workers in Nigeria because the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) did not consult with any of the health professional associations or professional council in line with due process in his bid to impose a new scheme of service on health professionals apart from his professional constituency of medicine. 

   Okara said: “The AHPA wishes to inform the Head of Service of the Federation (HOSOF) and the committee recently set up by the National Council of Establishment of its decision to reject the scheme of service proposed unilaterally by the Health Minister, Prof. C. O. Chukwu during the meeting of the council in the last week of February 2014. 

   “In pursuit of the Health minister’s agenda of vindictive purposelessness and resolve to deal with imaginary enemies, the Chukwu led Federal Ministry of Health did not consult with any of the health professional associations or professional council in line with due process in his bid to impose a new scheme of service on health professionals apart from his professional constituency of medicine. 

   “One of the glaring absurdities in the proposed scheme is the desire of the Health minister to change the nomenclature of the apex cadre from director associated with other graduate ranks to chief which is totally unacceptable. 

   “We also observed that even when Prof. Chukwu’s FMOH has issued a circular on skipping of Consolidated Health workers Salary Structure (CONHESS 10), it is not accommodated in the proposed scheme of service by the Federal Ministry of Health.”

   Okara warned that in a sector that has recorded more than 10 strike actions in the last five years and with a propensity towards industrial disharmony, the “office of the HOSOF must immediately discard of the ill-motivated scheme of service which is nothing more than another of Chukwu’s many plots to make healthcare professionals subservient to their over-pampered medical counterparts.”

   On the review of CONHESS negotiation with the FMoH, Okara said: “The AHPA after a painstaking review of events of the last few weeks on the platform of the joint bargaining committee to review the salaries and emoluments of healthcare professionals, notes with concern that the process continues to be embellished with delay tactics and other avoidable bottlenecks. 

 “It is our strong conviction that if it was possible to negotiate albeit illegally and unlawfully at the highest level of government within some hours and get the Federal Government to circularise the outcome in line with due process in less than 10 days when new salaries was approved for doctors in January 2014, then it appears the Federal Government is playing games with members of AHPA who are traditionally matured and have been patient for government to sort the mess it created through the alliance of the NMA and Prof. Chukwu’s Health Ministry. 

   “Members of AHPA have become unduly restive and we wish to alert the Federal Government and respective state governments, that we shall no longer be in position to appeal for calm in the stormy climate of the Health Sector if by Thursday March 13, 2014, government fails to approve befitting and acceptable wages for the generality of health workers in Nigeria.” 

   On the National Health Bill, Okara said: “The AHPA has consistently called on the NASS to amend Section 1(1) of the National Health Bill 2014 which was still reflected as in the original draft by the Senate recently. The controversial Section 1 (1) posits that a ‘National Health System will provide regulatory Framework for the regulation of health services in Nigeria.’’

   Okara said this potentially dangerous clause as packaged is an attempt by medical stakeholders to undermine the professional autonomy of other health professions as witnessed recently in Ghana, where parliament repealed laws which backed the autonomy of all health professions after passing a Health Act. 

   He further explained: “It is important to declare that contrary to the impression created by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa who is a medical doctor that ‘as of today the health industry in Nigeria is left largely unregulated, without norms and standard, lacking protection of health users and providers. The NHB is expected to close the gap, providing legal framework needed in the regulation, development and management of National Health System setting standards and norms in health practice and research.’ 

   “The truth is that there are existing legal framework for regulating and controlling pharmacists and pharmacy practice through Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), doctors through Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) Act, nurses through Nurses and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) Act and medical laboratory scientists through Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) Act.” 

    The health workers strongly enjoined the House of Representatives to conduct a proper public hearing to redress this outstanding contentious issue rather than adopting a concurrence of the flawed version passed by the Senate in the ultimate professional and public interest. 

   On the privatisation of public health facilities in the country, Okara said: “It has become necessary to alert the public of attempts by some state governments and Federal Health Institutions to privatise some health services and facilities in line with the script/agenda of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).’’