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Health

JUTH crisis: Resident doctors extend ultimatum to FG

JUTH crisis: Resident doctors extend ultimatum to FG
By Ummul Idris
Ultimatum
Abuja, May 17, 2018 (NAN) The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has extended the 21 days ultimatum given to the Federal Government to recall its sacked members from Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).
Dr Ugochukwu Chinaka, National President of NARD, said this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
Chinaka said the association had extended the ultimatum by another 21 days, effective from May 14.
“This extension is to avail Government time to reinstate our members sacked in JUTH since 2014 with full benefits.
“To also recall all resident doctors in Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, whose appointment have been unjustly terminated since May 2017.
“NARD enjoins the Government of Osun to urgently look into the welfare of our members at LTH Osogbo and resolve all lingering issues pertaining to the welfare of our members.
“NARD frowns at the fact that salaries of our members at various FHIs are still being withheld by respective hospital management and call for immediate payment of all outstanding to our members,’’ he said.
According to Chinaka, the Federal Ministry of Health released an extant circular on duration of Residency Training Programme on July 18, 2014.
He regretted that the management of JUTH was yet to recognise and implement the said circular.
“There was a court injunction restraining the management of JUTH from unjustly exiting Residents Doctors in August 2017, but it has continued to exit them.
“The JUTH management has been withholding dues deducted from members of the congress of NARD JUTH since January 2018,’’ Chinaka said. (NAN)
UMD/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

JOHESU strike: Yobe hospitals opt out

JOHESU strike: Yobe hospitals opt out
By Mohammed Mamman
Strike-3
Damaturu, April 18, 2018 (NAN) Health workers on the payroll of the Yobe Government have opted out of the ongoing nationwide strike called by the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU).
The news Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the industrial action, which began on Tuesday midnight, was expected to be spontaneous nationally.
However, members of the union in Yobe shun the directive as the state owned health institutions are providing full services as they did not join the strike.
NAN reports that services are being provided at the State Specialists Hospital and the Yobe Teaching Hospital in Damaturu.,
Mr Abdul-Azeez Usman, the state Chairman of National Association of Nurses and Midwives (NANM), could not be reached for comments as he was said to be in a meeting.
But the strike had paralysed normal services at the Federal Medical Centre, Nguru, Yobe, which is the only federal health institution in state.
A senior staff of the hospital told NAN on condition of anonymity that the hospital was providing skeletal services as the strike commenced.
The source said: “We are hopeful that the strike will not be prolonged and the union will soon call off the strike for normal services to resume.”
The source cautioned that if the strike was prolonged, patients on admission and out-patients would be at the receiving end and called for quick resolution of the dispute.
Some patients who spoke to NAN appealed to the health workers to suspend the strike so as not to compound the problems faced by ordinary citizens.
Malam Ali Sani, a patient, said the effect of the strike would only be on the less privileged as “the well to do will go to private clinics to access medicare”.
From Plateau, a report said the strike was effective at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) forcing management staff and medical doctors to offer skeletal services.
Prof. Edmond Banwat, the Chief Medical Director of JUTH, confirmed the development to NAN on Wednesday in Jos.
Banwat disclosed that all Heads of Departments had been asked to work out plans on how the hospital could offer some clinical services and handle emergency cases.
“JUTH will offer some clinical services and handle emergency cases, as the doctors are not on strike, but our services will not be optimal,’’ he said.
‎Mr Obisesan Oluwatuyi, General Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP) and a member of the leadership of JOHESU, who was at the hospital to ensure strict compliance, said that the strike was necessitated following alleged Federal Government failure to meet their demands.
He said that government signed an agreement with JOHESU in September 2017, regretting that six months after signing the agreement, nothing has been done.
He lamented that ‎the lukewarm attitude of the current administration in charge of the Federal Ministry of Health which has been promoting only the welfare of doctors as against the general health workforce.
“The Federal Ministry of Health and the Minister of Health has not been fair to us as a group that is why you will continue to see this, until the needful is done.
“For an effective health work force, ‎every stakeholder must be taken into consideration,” he said.
He listed ‎their demands yet to be met by the federal government to include an upward adjustment of CONHESS Salary Scale, arrears of skipping of CONHESS 10.
Other demands include employment of additional health professionals, the implementation of court judgments and an upward review of retirement age from 60 to 65 years. (NAN)
MM/UBO/OIF/MST
Edited by Ifeyinwa Okonkwo/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

JOHESU Strike: JUTH offers skeletal services

JOHESU Strike: JUTH offers skeletal services
NAN-HG-3
Healthcare
Jos, Sept. 27, 2017 (NAN) The Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) is offering skeletal services to cushion the effect of the on-going nationwide strike by the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU).
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who visited the hospital on Wednesday observed that only doctors, consultants and students on Industrial Attachment were seen offering skeletal services to patients.
The report also said the hospital was void of its usual heavy human traffic.
Dr Edmond Banwat, the Chief Medical Director of JUTH, told NAN that the services were not optimal as the hospital currently doesn’t have the full complement of staff.
Banwat said that only the clinics, accident and emergency units are currently functional and the hospital still carries out a few emergency surgeries.
He appealed to members of JOHESU to see reason with the government and call off the industrial action as patients were suffering and to prevent loss of lives.
However, Mr Mustapha Kabir, the Chairman of JOHESU, JUTH chapter, said that the strike was total and there was no clause like “top management staff working”.
Similarly, Mr Emmanuel Ogunbiyi, the Chairman of NUAHP, JUTH branch, said that the current strike embarked on by the six unions under JOHESU was total.
Ogunbiyi, who was at the hospital to ensure total compliance, said that no member was allowed to work, not even the management staff of the hospital who are members of any of the unions under JOHESU.
He called on the public to appeal to the government to meet their various demands as they were the ones bearing the brunt of the strike.
On his part, Mr Isaac Uteroh, the Deputy President North of the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), said that the unions embarked on the strike because the federal government failed to meet their demands and also failed to implement various court rulings.
“JOHESU has been patient with the federal government since 2012, and series of ultimatums were issued to draw the attention of government to our plight but with no commensurate response from them.
“Instead, our demands were either outrightly jettisoned, treated with disdain, intimidated with court action and the quick application of `no-work, no-pay,’’ he noted.
Uteroh decried the decadence in the health sector, which he explained was one of the reasons they embarked on the strike.
According to him, the rot in the system was solely responsible for the poor service delivery experienced in most health institutions in the country, saying it is basically due to inadequate work equipment.
He said sub-standard reagents in the laboratory, break-down of major machines and poor working conditions were some of the reasons for poor service delivery.
“The federal government needs to do the needful, as the health indices of the nation has fallen abysmally low because of the poor condition of service,’’ he said.
Uteroh said that there was an urgent need for the government to revamp the health sector and the current strike was a means of driving home the urgency of that need. (NAN)
UBO/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

JUTH to run only 1 shift as workers protest non-payment of allowances

NAN-H-24

Shift
Jos, April 10, 2017(NAN) The Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) will, from Tuesday, run only one shift as the workers have resolved to suspend further shift duty following the non-payment of shift duty allowances.

According to Mr Mustapha Kabir, Chairman, JUTH chapter of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), workers of the hospital have resolved to join the hospital’s nurses in running one shift duty, from April 11, 2017.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the nurses suspended shift duty on March 7, to press for three months shift duty allowances owed them.

But with their action not eliciting the desired results, the other workers have resolved to join them and had decided to adjust the working hours from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

“We shall work only on the morning shift and close by 3 p.m.; there will be no evening or night duty.

“There will be no weekend duty as well. This working regime shall remain until the allowances are paid,” he said.

Kabir attributed the non-payment of the arrears to payment migration to the IPPIS in 2015, when the Federal Government mopped up the fund by the end of that year.

“The workers have consistently urged management to source for the money and pay, but since nothing is forthcoming, they resolved at a congress today (Monday), to take action,” he said.

Reacting, Dr. Edmund Banwat, the Chief Medical Director of JUTH, said that efforts were being made to “reason with the workers”

“We have been meeting with the workers. We have tried to let them know that it is not the fault of management and that we are doing everything possible to meet their demands,” he said.

The CMD urged the workers to reconsider their stance, saying that it was strange and “certainly not in the interest of the patients to abandon shift duty in a huge health facility like JUTH”. (NAN)
UBO/ETS

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Edited by Ephraims Sheyin

Judiciary

Judge orders accelerated hearing of JUTH management/workers dispute

NAN-H-74
dispute
Jos, March 28, 2017 (NAN) Justice Rabiu Gwandu of the National Industrial Court, Jos, has ordered lawyers to parties in the industrial dispute between Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), and its workers, to ensure a speedy resolution of the matter.

“The case involves human health and should not be delayed; health workers should not be delayed in the courts when their attention is required in the hospital,” she said on Tuesday, when the matter came up.

She warned lawyers against delay tactics that could further prolong the matter which she said had lingered “for too long”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Joint Health Staff Union (JOHESU), had dragged the management of JUTH to court in 2016, over alleged refusal to pay their April and May salaries for that year.

The union had declared a strike during the period, but while some workers stayed away as directed by the union, others reported to work.

The management later paid salaries to only workers that reported to work during the two months strike.

At the hearing of the case om Tuesday, Gwandu declared that labourers were entitled to their wages, and advised lawyers to both sides to strive toward reaching a consensus.

She ordered the lawyers to file for an accelerated hearing to enable the court to resolve the issues “very quickly”.

Gwandu adjourned the matter to May 15, and advised the two parties to meet before the adjourned date and explore the possibility of an out-of-court settlement.

She appealed to the union leaders to be calm and refrain from actions that could portray them as “rowdy”.  (NAN)
UBO/ECN/KOLE/ETS

================

Edited by Remi Koleoso and Ephraims Sheyin

Health

JUTH conducts free surgeries for 80 persons in Plateau

NAN-H-1
Surgeries
Jos, March 14, 2017 (NAN)The Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), has carried out free surgeries for 80 indigent persons in the southern part of Plateau, according to its Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr. Edmund Banwat.

Banwat told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Tuesday in Jos that the surgeries were conducted at the JUTH Comprehensive Health Centre in Zamko, Langtang South Local Government.

He said that the surgical procedures were for Hernia, eye problems such as cataract, and fibroid.

According to him, both children and adults benefited from the Hernia repairs surgery.

The CMD said that the hospital also screened people for breast, cervical and prostate cancers, as well as diabetes and hepatitis B.

Banwat said that the exercise was part of the Presidential Rapid Initiative Programme of the Federal government, specifically aimed at assisting the poor.

NAN reports that the Minister of Health, Dr. Isaac Adewale, had directed tertiary health institutions to carry out  surgeries and screenings targeted at “the poorest of the poor”.

“To get the poorest of the poor, we established a guideline, which we used to assess people in the zones so as to arrive at those in that category,” he explained.

Banwat disclosed that JUTH would conduct a similar exercise in the central and northern parts of the state.

“Our target is to go round the three senatorial zones before the end of March,” he said. (NAN)
UBO/ETS

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Edited by Ephraims Sheyin

Health

Nurses shun shift duty over non-payment of 3 months allowance

Nurses shun shift duty over non-payment of 3 months allowance NAN-H-2

Duty

Jos, March 13, 2017 (NAN) Nurses in the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Plateau, have shunned shift duty following non-payment of their three months shift duty allowance, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The nurses have adjusted to working the regular hours of  7 a.m to 3 p.m daily, exclusive of weekends.

Mr Mustapha Kabir, the Chairman, Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), JUTH chapter, confirmed this development to NAN on Monday in Jos.

Kabir said that his members were yet to receive the N63 million released to the management of the tertiary health institution in December 2015 for the payment of the three months shift duty allowance.

However, he attributed the delay and non-payment of the arrears to payment migration to the IPPIS in 2015, when the Federal Government mopped up the fund by the end of 2015.

The chairman also blamed the management for treating the matter with levity and failure to retrieve the workers legitimate entitlements from the government treasury in spite of being reminded by the union throughout 2016.

“Throughout 2016, we waited for the management to get back the money from the Federal Government, but they failed in spite of our notice to them, hence our resolve to stop further shift duties,” he said.

Kabir said that the indefinite industrial action commenced on March 7, until their demand was met.

He further revealed that radiologists, medical lab scientists and pharmacists were also on strike in the institution.

“No nurse runs afternoon or night shift, as all the nurses come to work only in the morning to perform their duties and close at 4 p.m,” he said.

Reacting, the Chief Medical Director of JUTH, Dr Edmond Banwat, said that the management was working earnestly to resolve the issue.

Banwat assured that the funds would soon be made available for payment.

He, however, said that the non-shift embarked upon by the nurses was alien and detrimental to patients.

Banwat lamented that the hospital was not performing optimally due to the actions of some its workers and appealed to them to resume normal duty.

He said that medical doctors were however working round the clock to serve patients. (NAN)

UBO/ECN/MST

Edited by Emmanuel C. Nwoye/Muhammad Suleiman Tola