Union Rejects Outsourcing In Tertiary Health Institutions

The Senior Staff Associa
tion of University Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRAI) has appealed to the Federal Government to reject outsourcing of services in tertiary health institutions.
The appeal was contained in a communique made available to The Tide at the end of a two-day meeting of the union.
The communique, which was signed by Mr Olawale Ogundipe, Teaching/Specialist Sector Chairman of SSAUTHRAI, said the union “frowns and disagrees with the position of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) advocating outsourcing.’’
“Outsourcing of services is under the guise of Public Private Partnership (PPP) as now being done by some of our tertiary institutions is illegal and should be stopped,’’ the communique said.
The communique said outsourcing and commercialisation were different in concept and practice from PPP.
It said that if this was not checked, it would take the already expensive health care services out of the reach of the common man while quality assurance would be highly compromised.
According to the communique, it will also heighten the already existing disharmony amongst health professionals in the health sector.
The union appealed to the government to suspend the privatisation of services in core areas in the name of PPP in tertiary health institution.
The communique commended the government over the Integrated Personal Payroll Information Services (IPPIS), but called on the relevant authorities to fashion ways of overcoming some of the challenges fraught in the initiative.
It said the meeting of Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) and the Federal Government presided over by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. Ayim Pius Ayim, on increasing the retiring age for health workers as positive.
“We urge the senator to use his good office to see to the quick resolution of all the issues related to the implementation of the agreement,” it said.