There is No Crisis in LUTH!
Dear Colleagues, there have been rumors making the rounds that there is an impending crisis. Much has been made of the following in a recent "Press Briefing'; by the current leadership of the ARD of the Lagos' University Teaching Hospital, supported by some minority group in Lagos State branch of the NMA.
The grounds for this are as follows
1. Delayed December and January salaries
2. Non payment of "Skipping Allowance"
3. High taxes on salaries and allowances
4. Poor quality of call duty food
5. Poor state of call duty rooms.
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Delayed December & January Salaries LUTH, along with the UCH Ibadan, UBTH Benin, OAUTHC lIe-lfe, Irrua Specialist Hospital, Federal Specialist Hospitalldo-Ani and some other Federal hospitals experienced a delay in payment of December Salaries due to shortfall in personnel emoluments in 2015. Shortfalls were experienced from the central pool from where Government platforms pay some medical workers (GIFMIS) and not because of what any Hospital did or failed to do. The situation has been going on for the past few months and are part of the nationwide financial difficulties the new Government is trying hard to ameliorate.
The LUTH CMD met three times with the LUTH ARD President and his secretary in the last three weeks where each time the ARD team was updated on several attempts made to help fast-track the payment of the outstanding salaries owed all doctors. Other stakeholders were similarly briefed. Regular updates were also circulated via social media viz:
Monday 1st February 2016
FROM: LUTH CMD
TO: . ALL LUTH DOCTORS.
Dear Colleagues, regretfully our salaries for December, 2015 are yet to be paid. I have personally followed it up till date and I hereby wish to update you as follows:
There was a shortfall in our approved Personnel Emoluments in 2015 noticed from the beginning ofthe year. This was duly communicated to Government since July, 2015.
Lots of efforts were made to get funds to pay but the shortfall could not be resolved before the year ran out. This also affected several big institutions such as UCH, OAUTH, UPTH and LUTH.The Accountant General's Office and Budget Office are working hard to obtain money to pay us and all other affected hospitals.
I commend the patience and restraints you have exercised this far.
Friday 5th February, 2016
FROM LUTHCMD
TO: ALL LUTH DOCTORS.
January salary has been paid and I am glad we are beginning to receive notifications to that effect.
The current fund paucity is nationwide and I thank you for your patience while Government strives to remedy the situation.
We have been assured December, 2015 payments will also be made as soon as possible.
Thus, for the ARD President to stand in front of the press on Friday 5th February 2016 and tell Nigerians that his Association was owed two months' salaries was a blatant lie as his Association Members had received their salaries from the Federal Government in the night of Thursday 4th February, 2016. We should praise this Government for its gallant efforts in these trying times.
We'doctors are not the only Nigerians owed salaries in the current dispensation and we should be patient while the new Government tries to sort out the financial problems confronting the nation. Our fellow Nigerians are owed several months in some states and this present situation will be swiftly resolved as soon as the payment platforms are funded, an issue we continue to take up with the appropriate Government agencies. It is therefore advised that we should be patient for a little longer.
Appeals have been made to the authorities to prevent the recurrent shortfalls in personnel emoluments to our institutions and efforts are being made to convince Government to return doctors to the IPPIS payment platform from which we doctors fought hard to be removed from only two years ago. If we had been patient for the initial hiccups experienced on the then newly-introduced IPPIS system to be rectified, we might not be in the situation we now find ourselves. It is advised that the NMA leadership should make haste slowly and exercise purposeful leadership and maturity over our trainee doctors.
"Skipping Allowance"
The paymentof "Skipping" is a national issue which the ARD and NMA should take up with various governmental levels through lobbying. With over 600 resident doctors, LUTH is not in a position to pay over N50 Million a month until Government provides the cash to back up the directive to pay through necessary appropriations. We all recall the Futile Outcome of the intense pressure applied to the wrong targets by the last ARD executives. This Presents exco was advised to change tack and employ available lobbying options on this matter in this democratic dispensation. The Leadership may yet attain what others failed to do it grapples with these realities. For Doctors to resort to threatening their colleagues because of money promised but not yet released by Government is a sad commentary on how sadly we have retrogressed as a body.
Differential Taxation
During the last Administration, the tax issue came up after some arrears were deducted form salaries of workers in LUTH, following the Lagos State's decision to apply the Personal Income Tax Act of 2011 (PITA). This led to a team from Lagos Inland Revenue Services(LlRS: the state tax agency) coming to make a presentation in LUTH for staffand explain the tax act to us. When the Unions still appeared unsatisfied the Hospital Management arranged a meeting with the Head of the Lagos State tax agency (Mr. Fowler), with all Unions Excos in attendance. At that meeting, the State insisted that the tax as applied in LUTH was appropriate because Lagos State had decided to apply the PITA to the letter. It was argued and verified at that meeting that those being paid by the FG were taxed less and that states like Ogun were giving doctors waivers. This was confirmed in a phone call Mr. Fowler put through to his Ogun state counterpart (on speaker). However the State insisted on the continued application of PITA and when the doctors argued that call duty should not be taxed this was rejected, and instead they were advised to apply for reliefs, or some other waivers/reduction on some other things which they pay to the State, and that the Governmentmight consider it. There was some argument that even Lagos State doctors were paying less than LUTH doctors but the files for Lagos state were not found that day. The meeting ended on that note.
NMA Lagos set up a tax committee and the committee visited LlRS again, and based on their findings, the committee advised NMA Lagos to approach the next State Governor with a proposal as it seemed the then FasholaGovernment was. winding down and not likely to revisit the issue before leaving. Now it is important to note that had all doctors been on IPPIS, the tax issue would not have arisen, because the tax regime is less on IPPIS. This is why non-doctors who agreed to go on IPPIS have not been as concerned about the taxation, compared to when they were not on IPPIS.
Unfortunately for our group, it is possible that the FG tax regime may now be adjusted to match that of Lagos because Mr. Fowler, who was the main man behind this state tax approach, is now the head of the FIRS (Federal tax agency). However, until that is done,it is advised that all doctors should be moved to IPPIS (and MDCAN NATIONAL is working on this), and also that the current NMA exco should take up the advice its tax committee made, to submit a tax relief proposal to the new State Government.
Pursuing the current Management of LUTH will be akin to barking up the wrong tree.
Call Rooms
The Engineering Department of LUTH has been given a list of repair work and renovation to carry out, some of which are already being done.
Call Duty Food
The LUTH Management met with the LUTH ARD exco 3 weeks ago and outlined a plan to reduce the number of wasted food and improve quality thru proper audit of those who actually eat the food. This would have taken place Feb 1 but the exco asked for more time to sensitize members before the new system would come into force.
To our dear Colleagues and the general public, we boldly assert that it is strange that anyone will accuse the LUH Management of fostering any crisis in a Hospital we have gallantly fought to keep operational. For the avoidance of doubts, there is no crisis in LUTH, rather, there is a desperate attempt to instigate one. It is sadly part of the several recent desperate attempts of a few fifth columnists to destabilize services to the Nigerian public and discredit the present leadership of the Hospital. At several meetings with the ARD exco of LUTH, we have been impressing on the leadership the need for Resident Doctors to face their training and finish on time to allow others come to train.
Attempts to allow the ARD to be used by external destabilizing bodies will not bode well for service, training and research. Our number one priority is training and we promise to keep the Hospital open to serve Nigerians according to our mandate. The change mantra of the new Federal Government's Administration must guide all of us who are even privileged to hold onto jobs while many are jobless. We sincerely hope those who were admitted and are paid to train while we serve will recognize and maximize the opportunity given to them by this great Institution.
Most resident doctors are tired of the strike option fostered on them through external pressure and are focused on regaining time lost through 253 days of strikes in 2014. To all who are hell-bent on causing trouble, please go elsewhere. There is peace in LUTH and we are happy with the several progress achieved in 2015 while we all worked. The record books are there to see. Modular Theatre is reopened with all the six OR suites working for the first time in a decade! We are about to embark on rehabilitating the Labor Ward from next week. The renewed confidence in the system is catching on, to the dismay of naysayers. We appeal to all well-meaning Nigerians to ask those who wish to harm our Institution to "please let us be". There is no crisis here, go elsewhere!
We Thank our staff for their understanding and support.
LUTH MANAGEMENT
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
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