JOHESU: PARITY TO ANARCHY

BEING THE PRESS STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE NIGERIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (NMA) OGUN ON THE ON-GOING STRIKE ACTION EMBARKED UPON BY JOHESU.

Fellow Hippocratic colleagues, and the good people of Ogun state.

Unionism serves to confer strength on each federating member of the union. The power so derived from such union ought to be balanced with high degree of restrain and responsibility.

Strikes should be an instrument of bargaining when all other means of getting attention has failed. When a union is pushed into calling strike, the above qualities should be the guiding principles. A union whose headship is boasting of wrecking havoc with strike has failed to demonstrate empathy and are far beyond the bounds of true patriotism. Directing states and local government health workers to join the strike calls for concern especially in judging the real motive behind the exercise. Strike in the health industry is associated with irreparable loss of lives. On its merit, this is enough to call for caution while the strike lasts. Regrettably however, it is true that NO VOLUME OF STRIKES CAN ENTHRONE ILLEGALITY.

That JOHESU is not a registered union is no more news. Most of their demands are not lawful. Among the cadres of the amorphous union are health workers whose remuneration are not at par with fellow other union. To the best of my knowledge, nurses and pharmacist salaries are not at parity, neither is that of laboratory scientists’ with the the former. JOHESU should first have addressed the relativity of the salaries amongst their constituent units to demonstrate their genuine intentions.

I wish to observe that every sector of the economy and MDAs have different cadres whose offices, duties, responsibilities as well as remuneration are based on educational qualifications, job experience and to some extent, other considerations according to extant laws. And no matter the level of intelligence which a lower ranked officer displays, that cannot make his/ her remuneration to be at par with his/her fellow officer whose qualification is higher and job description demands more responsibility. From the judiciary, to the military, aviation industry, even to journalism. RELATIVITY IS NOT EXTANT ONLY IN HEALTH INSTITUTIONS.

The same principle applies to promotion and the level attainable by officers in different cadres. A ward assistant cannot be so indispensable as to be promoted to the office of Director in Nursing services in the health institution. No matter the years of experience of a judicial worker, unless he acquires the necessary qualifications in the university and law school as prescribed, he cannot be called to the bar or to the bench. And no volume of strike will make that possible.

Let me reassure the good people of Ogun State, that this has nothing to do with ‘doctors are arrogant’. I also wish to state categorically too, that we are not saying that any member of the health team is/are dispensable or unimportant. But as a member of a team, everyone should practice their profession to satisfy both their clients (patients) and their employer (patients, indirectly through their taxes) and earn their due pay.

As a nation we should not allow a group of people to veil our vision while blackmailing the government into an agreement that will perpetuate a vicious cycle of anarchy in our health institutions.

For the avoidance of doubt, we therefore wish to state as follows:

DOCTORS ARE NOT ON STRIKE.
That we (NMA Ogun) are in full support of our national body on the issues so stated in the Press Release of 10th of May 2018, titled RE: ON-GOING STRIKE ACTION JOHESU AND ITS EXTENSION.
That Government at all levels, especially in Ogun State, should be well guided in managing labour crises and guard against being stampeded into taking decision that will precipitate more crises than it seeks to solve.
That heads of hospitals and their management team should give all the necessary support and assistant to the