JOHESU urges FG to avert imminent strike in nation’s health sector

Na wa oooo...for all these strikes..The Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to implement the agreement it reached with the union, to avoid an imminent strike in the sector.
Mr Kehinde Adegoke, the chairman of JOHESU, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba Chapter, made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Adegoke, however, did not specify the date the strike would begin.
NAN reports that JOHESU is the umbrella body for the joint health workers union, including record officers, hospital technicians, porters and cleaners in the hospitals.
The JOHESU chairman said, “I am pleading with the Federal Government to do the needful, to prevent this strike.
“JOHESU had a meeting with the Federal Government delegation led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and we reached certain agreements.
“A number of the items in the agreement were not new, but we had similar agreements from the past that had yet to be fulfilled.”
He said that at the Oct. 9 meeting with the Federal Government team, JOHESU was told to allow them until the end of the month to work out things.
“I am begging them to settle these things before the end of October because a 15-day ultimatum had already been given.
“ JOHESU will embark on a nationwide strike, if there is no discernable change by the end of October.
“We all know that each time there is strike, it is the poor Nigerian masses that suffer,” Adegoke said.
He said that the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) recently called off its prolonged nationwide strike after several interventions from various quarters.
Adegoke said he hoped that the situation with JOHESU would not degenerate to that level.
“Our patients are suffering. Nigerians are suffering, while people who can afford it travel abroad when they are sick.
“Majority of Nigerians cannot afford to do that, so they rely on available health services when they are ill.
“The unresolved crisis can be resolved amicably, if our agreements in respect of level skipping for health workers, withheld arrears and other issues are addressed.
“ We live in a democratic system, therefore, we should give room for the rule of law.
“If we don’t, the only alternative to rule of law is anarchy. We certainly do not want anarchy to be the order of the day,” he added.
(NAN)