The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Monday came under fire over his alleged failure to properly manage the nation’s health sector.
Nurses, midwives, pharmacists, medical technologists and other categories of health workers, who staged a protest at the Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, Ogun State, criticised Chukwu for what they described as unnecessary discrimination in tertiary health institutions.
The health workers, under the aegis of Joint Health Sector Unions, also called for a true National Health Bill and the urgent implementation of the presidential committee’s report on harmony in the health sector.
They claimed that the over-politicization and dichotomy in the health system had unduly conferred favours to medical doctors to the detriment of other health-care professionals.
Chanting various slogans, the placard-carrying workers urged President Goodluck Jonathan to save the health sector from imminent collapse by relieving Chukwu of his appointment.
They also bemoaned the “lackadaisical attitude” with which the Federal Ministry of Health had handled the health workers’ case in National Industrial Court, Abuja.
The state JOHESU Acting Chairman, Comrade Rahman Lateef, who addressed newsmen shortly after the rally, disclosed that the rally was held simultaneously in all federal health facilities across the country sequel to the directive of the unions’ national bodies.
Lateef lamented the deplorable standard of Nigeria’s health sector, saying the country now ranked 51 out of 53 African nations.
He said: “The declining ranking in the healthcare sector has arisen from factors intrinsic to the system itself.
“These remain as stumbling blocks to positive impact of the transformation agenda of Mr. President in delivering quality health care,” he said.
Lateef listed the demands of the unions to include submission and implementation of presidential committee report on harmony in the health sector; promotion of qualified health professionals from 14 to 15; implementation of 2008 Job Evaluation Report; review of retirement age to 65 years and reconstitution of the Tertiary Health Institutions Management Boards dissolved since 2011.
If the demands are not met by the concerned authorities, the JOHESU boss threatened that the workers would embark on a three-day warning strike.
He added that the workers may be forced to declare an indefinite industrial action if nothing concrete emanates from the warning strike scheduled to hold from February 4 to 6.
Lateef said: “On December 13, last year, there was a national rally in Abuja calling for the removal of the minister.
“But because there had not been any response from the Presidency.
The executive of the coalition now deemed it fit to call on the units and intensify protest for the removal of the minister.
“The problems in the health sector are numerous.
“They started from 1985.
“If you look at the statistics, before 1985, the people that were running health sector were health administrators.
“As at that time, Nigeria ranked fourth among the Commonwealth Nations in terms of health delivery but the present statistics show that Nigeria is now the 51st out of 53 African nations.”
While accusing medical doctors of promoting marginalization in public health institutions, the union leader enjoined the Federal Government to leave hospital management and administrative leadership to professional health service administrators.
Lateef said: “It is even sad that while the health sector continued to decline and collapse, the medical practitioners still feel that they are best
fitted as health administrators in Nigeria.
“Professional health service administrators should be allowed to perform their professional role in line with international best practices.”
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