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Tag: JOHESU

  • Resume in 48 hours or face dismissal, UCH tells striking JOHESU members

    The management of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, has directed members of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) in its employment to resume duties within 48 hours or face dismissal.

    The directive was contained in a statement issued in Ibadan on Thursday by the institution’s Director of Administration, Mr Adeyemi Siyanbade.

    He said that the directive was in line with a circular issued by the Federal Ministry of Health and dated May 28, 2018.

    “The Board of Management at its emergency meeting of 31st May, 2018, therefore directed that all members of JOHESU currently on strike should return to work within 48 hours from the date of this notice.

    “Failure to resume within the stipulated period will lead to being considered as having absconded from work, an offence which attracts immediate dismissal in line with the Public Service Rule NO.030413.

    “All staff on GL13 (CONHESS13), Assistant Director or its equivalent and above, being management staff, should not be involved in the strike action.

    “All Heads of Departments and Administrative Units are directed to bring the content of the circular to the attention of their staff for strict compliance,’’ the statement said.

    Recall that JOHESU, an amalgamation of five health workers unions, began a strike on April 17, crippling health services across the country.

  • Strike: JOHESU confirms receiving Court Order

    The Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) on Saturday confirmed receiving an Order of Interim Injunction from the National Industrial Court (NIC) compelling it to immediately resume duties.

    Addressing an emergency news conference on behalf of the national body of JOHESU in Abuja, Dr Godwin Okara, the Chairman, Assembly of Healthcare Professionals Association (AHPA), said the notice was served on the union at 5.39 p.m on Friday (May 25).
    Okara explained that the briefing was aimed at updating the media and the general public on the latest developments affecting the industrial action.
    “An Order of Interim Injunction compelling JOHESU to immediately resume duties was just served on JOHESU at 5.39 pm on Friday May 25.
    “We have the greatest respect and regard for the Judiciary of our country Nigeria.

    “It has always proved to be the bulwark of our democracy, the last hope of the common man and the flagship of the vanguard for law and order in human society,” he said.
    However, Okara noted that JOHESU had before the receipt of the NIC order filed Court Processes before the same court and the Court of Appeal on May 21, challenging the locus standi of the Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International, an NGO, and the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit.
    He described the suit as a calculated attempt by the Federal Ministry of Health and the NGO to demonise JOHESU through sustained misinformation and falsehood.

    Okara explained that JOHESU decided to seek legal redress when it noticed that there was an intention by the parties to tarnish the image of its members on the mass media when they have not received any court order.

    “JOHESU had before the receipt of this Court Order filed Court Processes in the National Industrial Court and the Court of Appeal on the 21st of May, 2018, challenging the locus standi of the NGO and the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit.

    “The move is a follow up to the calculated attempt to demonise JOHESU through sustained misinformation and falsehood by the Federal Ministry of Health and the Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International, an NGO, that is neither our employer nor a party to the agreement JOHESU signed with Government.
    “The NGO has constituted itself into a meddlesome interloper,” Okara said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the NIC had on May 17 allegedly ordered striking members of JOHESU to suspend its on-going strike, and resume work across the nation within 24 hours.
    Justice Babatunde Adejumo, President of the NIC, gave the order after listening to the submissions of Mr Okere Nnamdi, in an ex-parte motion filed by the NGO, Incorporated Trustees of Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International.

    The NGO in the motion prayed the court to order the workers to restore normal healthcare services and go back to negotiation table.
    Okara also expressed concern over the persistent attempts by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to misinform the public through malicious fabrication of accusation and blatant lies that JOHESU members had locked up theatres, consulting rooms, laboratories and wards.
    “It beats imagination that NMA will go to any ridiculous length in giving bad names to a dog in order to hang it,’’ he said.
    He dismissed insinuations by the NMA that their members were intimidated by JOHESU officials and hospital authorities lack the power to keep the gates and doors of our health facilities open.

    According to him, JOHESU members have conducted themselves with the highest degree of restraint and discipline in the face of provocation and double-dealing by the Federal Ministry of Health and NMA.

    But the AHPA chairman commended the leadership of the Senate for their recent intervention aimed at ensuring full and amicable resolution of the crisis.
    Okara also appreciated all men and women of good conscience that have lend their voices of reason to JOHESU’s struggle for improved healthcare facilities in the country, justice, fairness and equity in the health sector.

    While sympatising with patients and their relatives over the pangs of the strike, he appealed to the general public to understand that the strike was in the best interest of improving the country’s health sector.

    Okara urged members of JOHESU to sustain the strike pending the outcome of national consultative meetings with states and zonal leaders of the union to review the latest situation and decide on the next line of action on May 27 and 28 in Abuja, respectively.
    The JOHESU official therefore urged the Federal Government to implement the agreement reached with the union on Sept. 30, 2017, to avoid further loss of lives.

  • Strike: We are ‘unmoved’ by court order directing resumption of work – JOHESU

    …wants Minister of Health, Labour sacked

    Sequel to the National Industrial Court judgement ordering the striking Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) to return to work within 24 hours, the union has dared the court order, insisting it is ‘unmoved.’

    Recall that Justice Babatunde Adejumo gave the judgment on Thursday in Abuja.

    According to Daily Trust newspaper, the order followed an ex-parte motion filed by a non-governmental organisation challenging the industrial action by the health workers.

    The NGO, Incorporated Trustees of Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International, in the motion, prayed the court to order the workers to resume work and go back to the negotiation table.

    The judge also ordered the ministers of Health, as well as Labour and Employment to immediately set up a committee to address issues raised by the parties.

    Responding to the development on Friday, an official of JOHESU said the union was yet to be served with the order.

    “There is no paper to that effect. It is only on the pages of newspaper and television that we saw it,” Olatunji Tajudeen, JOHESU Lagos State Council Chairman said. “There should be a notice properly served,” he added.

    The official however said the union was ‘unmoved’ by any judgment and that the strike will continue until the workers’ demands are met.

    He said the unions’ new demand is that both the ministers of health and labour be ‘removed’.

    Tajudeen described both officials as ‘biased’ in the ongoing negotiations between the union and government.

    JOHESU, an association of health workers except doctors, has been on strike for more than a month.

    The strike began on April 17 at federal hospitals across the country until a week ago when members of JOHESU in the employ of state and local governments joined in.

    Meanwhile, JOHESU has directed its members in Lagos, Yobe and Kano to return go work following efforts by the state governments to meet their local demands.

    On that, the Lagos union leader said, “Yes we have returned to work and opened up our emergency unit following efforts made by our state government to meet our local demands.

    “We only do skeletal and emergency response at the moment.”

     

  • FG, JOHESU in closed door meeting to end strike

    The Federal Government and the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) have been engaged in series of closed-door meetings to end the ongoing strike by the health workers.

    As it appears, the union and the Federal Government are making steady progress toward resolving the impasse and end the strike.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngigie said on Thursday in Abuja that the Federal Government has been having series of meeting with the leadership of the striking health workers.

    According to the minister, marathon meetings were held on Wednesday, while the meeting would also reconvene later on Thursday.

    He said that the CONHESS table that corresponds with the 2014 CONMESS adjustment with the Medical Doctors has been appropriately addressed by the National Salary Income and Wages Commission.

    The minister said this has been given as an offer in the spirit of equity.

    He, however, pleaded with the striking workers to call off the ongoing nationwide strike in the interest of the public.

    Recall that JOHESU had commenced strike on April 17, following the Federal Government’s failure to implement agreement signed with the unions.

    The union’s demands include adjustment of CONHESS salary as done for CONMESS since 2014, and abolition of scale to scale promotion, payment of outstanding arrears of promotion, skipping and relativity.

    Others are autonomy of teaching and specialist hospitals, non execution of court judgments, review of retirement age from 60-65 years as done for teachers in the tertiary education sector.

  • JOHESU strike won’t stop port screening for Ebola – Health Minister assures

    JOHESU strike won’t stop port screening for Ebola – Health Minister assures

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole on Thursday affirmed that the ongoing Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) strike, would not hinder the Ebola screening of travellers coming into the country as health workers in the port would not be joining the strike.

    The minister disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.

    Speaking on the effort the government is making to reduce the risk of the disease being imported into the country, Mr Adewole said mechanism has been put in place at the ports and borders to screen travellers coming in and going out of the country.

    “There will be screening at the airport and borders. We have also put in place a screening form to help track where people are coming from and go, as this will help improve surveillance,” he said.

    The screening form will be particularly for people coming from the west Africa and central Africa region. An emergency surveillance activities at all land and airport borders has been set up so that we can keep Nigerians safe, he added.

    Currently, there is an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo leading to some deaths.

    “Part of the new measures to be taken include screening passengers coming into the country. Not only that, we will be screening incoming passengers, particularly passengers from DRC and neigbouring countries.

    “We will also ensure we step up all activities screening people coming in so that we will not be caught unaware,” he said.

    Ebola, like other infectious diseases has a tendency of spreading across border through human migration, if not well monitored.

    In 2014, the disease was imported to Nigeria through a Liberian Diplomat who flew to Nigeria in an attempt to get to the U.S. after contacting the disease in Liberia.

    As a result of this, eight Nigerians died from the disease and many others were infected. Majority were health workers.

    The minister said to minimise the risk of importing the disease, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is currently coordinating a national working group that is assessing and managing the risk to Nigeria.

    While alienating the fears of Nigerians on the likely import of the disease into Nigeria, the minister advised Nigerians to cultivate the habit of personal hygiene and not just depend on hand sanitizers as prevention from the disease.

    He said hand sanitizers though good should not be solely relied upon as preventive mechanism for contacting the disease as hand sanitizer is not a means of preventing Ebola.

    Mr Adewole explained that Nigeria is in close communication with development partners, including the World Health Organisation, who are in Congo to monitor and respond to the situation.

    “The port health services unit has been placed on red-alert and will heighten screening measures at ports of entry.

    “Letters of alert have also been sent to all states to enhance surveillance activities and an advisory note for the general public,” he said.

    Mr Adewole said Nigeria has the capacity to tackle the disease because the country has learnt a lot from the 2014 outbreak which claimed eight people in the country.

    He said over the last few years,”we have strengthened our health security infrastructure to effectively prevent, detect and respond to infectious diseases including Ebola.”

    The Federal Ministry of Health says it remains committed to ensuring the health and safety of all Nigerians.

    The World Bank, through the regional disease surveillance systems enhancement (REDISSE) also released $90 million to help tackle surveillance and response of disease in the country and other African countries, the minister said.

    The Chief Executive Officer, NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said Nigeria would not be having problem tackling the disease because there are health experts in who assisted Liberia to tackle the disease in 2014.

    He said REDISSE is focused on strengthening the disease preparedness and response architecture in West African countries, including Nigeria.

    He said the main priority for NCDC is to develop a robust public health emergency preparedness and response system in other to tackle any disease outbreak in the country.

  • Doctors threaten nationwide strike if FG accedes JOHESU demands

    Doctors under the aegis of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) have threatened to withdraw their services across health institutions in the country if the federal government accedes to the demands of other health workers (JOHESU) who have been on strike for the past three weeks.

    The strike by JOHESU( Joint Health Sector Union) has crippled healthcare delivery across the country, and has left millions without care.

    The doctors, who are opposed to salary adjustment and harmonisation, one of the major demands of the striking health workers under JOHESU, said the warning became necessary as state and local government workers had been directed to join the JOHESU strike in a bid to force the government to act.

    When the strike began on April 17, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, in an apparent continuation of the rivalry among health workers, described JOHESU as an “illegal body” and urged the government to ignore its threat.

    On Thursday, the NMA in a statement signed by its newly elected president, Francis Faduyile, said it reached an agreement with the government in 2014 not to accede to demands of other health workers relating to salary adjustments and harmonisation.

    “The NMA wishes to draw the attention of the Federal Government to our correspondence of April 21, 2014 on the above, in which we reminded Government of the collective bargaining agreement we had with the Federal Government of Nigeria in January 2014.

    “It is also pertinent to once again remind Government about the concluding part of our letter no. NMA/PRE/SG/03/0751 of 21st March 2014, which states, “In view of the above, the NMA painfully wishes to inform the Federal Government of Nigeria that any award to the non-medically qualified health professionals that violates the January and July agreements of 2014 shall result in the resumption of the suspended withdrawal of service of 2014. Please take this as a notice sir”.

    “The above reminder is predicated on the extension of the ongoing strike action embarked upon by the amorphous body called ‘’JOHESU’’, to States and Local government areas, the basis of which is to strengthen its callous and ill motivated agitation for pay parity between her members and doctors with the resultant erosion of relativity and further hierarchical distortion in the health sector vis-à-vis her clandestine romance with some top government officials.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the Nigerian Medical Association wishes to restate her positions on the various demands of JOHESU:

    “We oppose vehemently, any adjustment in CONHESS SALARY SCALE with resultant pay parity between doctors and healthcare professionals allied to medicine, and hereby reaffirm that relativity is sacrosanct,” the statement read in part.

  • Strike: NMA appeals to FG to honour agreements with JOHESU

    The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), has appealed to the Federal Government to honour all agreements with the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), and end the ongoing strike in the nation’s health sector.

    The association made the appeal on Sunday, in Abuja in a communiqué issued at the end of its 58th Annual General/Scientific and Delegates’ Conference.

    According to the communiqué read by its new President, Dr Francis Adedayo, the association said it disparaged the strike and appealed to the Federal Government to end it soon.

    JOHESU, a union comprising all health workers in Nigeria, apart from medical doctors and dentists, began a nationwide indefinite strike on April 18.

    “We disparage the ongoing strike action by JOHESU and appeal to government to honour its agreements with all health workers.’’

    On medical tourism, the association said that: “We call on the government to improve the work environment and upgrade the infrastructure to meet international standards in order to reverse medical tourism”

    However, NMA applauded the government for its efforts in rehabilitation of primary health institutions in the country.

    “We applaud the efforts of the government in rehabilitating Primary Health Centres and other institutions in Nigeria.

    “We appeal for the accreditation of such centres as primary providers of health services in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)”

    “We want to commend the senate for improved budgetary provision in the 2018 budget for the health sector.

    “We commend the senate for approving the inclusion of one per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation in the 2018 budget.

    “For improved funding of primary healthcare in Nigeria as mandated by the National Health Act 2014.’’

    The association also called on the government to increase budgetary allocation release for health to meet 15 per cent of the total budget, to embrace the universal health coverage for all Nigerians.

    Meanwhile, the association has elected new national officers to run its affairs for the next two years.

    The following members were elected into the National Officers Committee (NOC) of the NMA.

    Dr Francis Adedayo as president; Dr Kenneth Tijo as first vice president; Dr Ofem Enang – second vice president; Dr Olumuyiwa Peter – Secretary general; Dr Benjamin Ikechukwu – Deputy Secretary General.

  • Strike: FG, JOHESU hold crucial meeting today

    The federal government and the leadership of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), will reconvene today (Monday) in a bid to find a resolution to the ongoing strike.

    This was indicated in a statement by the Ministry of Health on Sunday in reaction to an advert sponsored by JOHESU in the Daily Trust Newspaper of Saturday April 28.

    The union in the advert accused the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, of denying the existence of an agreement between it and the Nigerian government in 2014.

    The ministry, in a statement signed by the Assistant Director of Information, Olajide Oshundun, said the information JOHESU gave in the advert was incorrect and misleading.

    JOHESU, a union comprising of all health workers in Nigeria apart from medical doctors and dentists, has been on an indefinite strike for 12 days crippling healthcare delivery across federal institutions.

    In the statement, the minister said there was no agreement between the government and JOHESU prior to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He described the advert as unwarranted and misinformation to the public.

    Mr Adewole said the federal government is doing everything in its power to resolve the matter.

    He explained that what “JOHESU was brandishing as 2014 agreement were minutes of meetings they had with the organs of Federal Government.”

    He added that in September 2017, JOHESU presented 15-point demand. He said the federal government has implemented 14 out of it while the last demand is still being attended to by the “high level body set up by the government to look into its implementation”.

    According to the statement, the September 2017 agreement stated that: “The meeting noted that two different figures had been submitted to the National Salaries and Wages Commission on separate occasions.

    “It was observed that the figures are no longer realistic due to lapse of time. The NSIWC should therefore do a fresh submission based on new data consistent with the present reality. The FMOH is expected to make available necessary and required data to NSIWC to enable fresh computation.

    “The newly computed figures will be forwarded by National Salaries and Wages Commission to the Federal Ministry of Health for onward transmission for processing to the high level body (HLB), of the government and thereafter to Federal Ministry of Health within five weeks.”

    This has been done, the statement added.

    Speaking on other efforts to settle the dispute, the minister said the federal government has put machinery in place to ensure that the strike is called off by meeting with JOHESU officials on several occasions, the last being on April 25, at the office of the Minister of Labour and Employment in Abuja.

    Mr Adewole disclosed that the government has offered JOHESU members opportunity to adjust their salaries and wages, “but what JOHESU is asking for is parity with medical doctors which is not practicable or acceptable to the Federal Government.”

    He said a cursory look at the salary tables in the health sector before and after independence till date have always reflected relativity and the 2014 salary adjustment for medical doctors was to correct the anomaly of 2009 and restore relativity.

    He appealed to JOHESU to immediately call off the strike and allow the high level body to conclude its assignment as contained in the 2017 agreement.

    The union had vowed that state and local government health institutions will join the strike within two weeks if the government fails to accede to the demands.

    JOHESU also said it is no longer ready to go back to the negotiation table with the government.

  • FG confirms meeting with JOHESU, reveals when strike will end

    FG confirms meeting with JOHESU, reveals when strike will end

    The federal government has confirmed meeting with the leadership of the Joints Health Unions (JOHESU) in a bid to end the ongoing strike.

    This was revealed by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole on Wednesday while addressing journalists after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja.

    The minister said government has set up a high-level committee to review the demands of the striking union and find a lasting solution.

    JOHESU, comprising health workers apart from medical doctors and dentists, are on an indefinite strike to press home their demands (technical and financial) from the government.

    The minister said the committee had met five times start from last week Tuesday and would also be meeting Wednesday night.

    “We are really at work with respect to this. We have done quite a lot of computation, we have met with (Ministry of )Finance, we have met with Budget and National planning. We are looking into all issues relating to this strike,” he said.

    The minister however debunked the union’s claim of a prior agreement which was not fulfilled.

    “But let me also put it on record that when we came on board, JOHESU approached us that they had an agreement with government but we discovered that there was really no agreement with government.

    ‘What they were able to provide were minutes of meetings held previously and we told them that no responsible government will implement minutes of previous meetings. And of the 15 points demands, we have met 14 of them over the one and a half years. The only one left we are currently meeting on,” Mr Adewole added.

    The strike which is on its eighth day has crippled health care delivery across federal health institutions across the country.

    The government had threatened to invoke the ‘no work no pay’ rule on the strike but the union called the bluff of the government, saying it will be on the strike until its demands are met.

    The union also vowed that state and local government health institutions will join the strike within two weeks if the government fails to accede to the demands.

    JOHESU also said it is no longer ready to go back to the negotiation table with the government.

    According to National Vice Chairman of JOHESU, Ogbonna Chimela: “There is no more negotiation because the government had already reached an agreement with us and signed it so nothing again to negotiate, the only thing we may look at as agreement is how many months of the arrears are they going to pay because it is now four years since 2014. Any other thing is sealed and signed.”

  • Strike: JOHESU dares FG, says no work till demands are met

    The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) has said it won’t be intimidated by the federal government’s threat to invoke the ‘no work no pay rule’ rule should it persist with the ongoing strike.

    The strike has crippled health care delivery in parts of the country.

    The union said it is not intimidated by any form of threat adding that it will go on with the strike until its demands are met.

    Recall that the government threatened to invoke the rule a day after JOHESU, the association of other health workers apart from medical doctors and dentists, began an indefinite strike over failure of the government to meet agreement it had with the union last September.

    “If this group of health workers persists on continuing this strike, government will be forced to invoke the provisions of the relevant labour laws, especially Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act”, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment said in a statement Wednesday by its Director of Press, Samuel Olowookere.

    Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act states that where any worker takes part in a strike, he shall not be entitled to any wages or other remuneration for the period of the strike, and any such period shall not count for the purpose of reckoning the period of continuous employment and all rights dependent on continuity of employment shall be prejudicially affected accordingly.

    Reacting to the threat, the National Chairman of the union, Biobelemoye Josiah, in a press briefing Friday in Abuja said government’s ‘No work No Pay’ policy was a diversionary tactics which would not hold water.

    He further accused the ministry of Health of having an ‘unholy alliance’ with the Nigerian Medical Association geared towards thwarting efforts of the union to achieve its demands from the government.

    “We wish to draw the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari, and the general public to the discriminatory, suppressive and oppressive attitude of the drivers of the health sector to all health workers other than medical doctors in managing health care delivery in Nigeria.

    “It’s on record that patients are always hurriedly discharged and diverted to their private clinics whenever medical doctors are on strike and thereby preventing other health workers from performing their duties and nothing like locum doctors employed to serve the public nor registers opened to enforce compliance; while the policy of ‘No Work No Pay’ has never been applied to the strike mongers who call themselves medical doctors,” the union leader said.

    The JOHESU lead further called on members nationwide to disregard all forms of threat or intimidation from government and ensure that services are withdrawn until “our demands are met.”

    “We call on government to ensure equity and justice in the health sector instead of putting the health of Nigerians in jeopardy by resolving the issues on the table rather than churning out threatening circulars on registers, locum and No Work No Pay that have no universal application, as a diversionary tactics,” he said.

    Chief among what the union is asking of the government is salary adjustments, a demand Nigerian doctors have vehemently opposed, warning the government that acceding to such demand would precipitate a crisis that may lead to the collapse of the health sector of the country.