‘End Of Health Workers’ Strike, Uncertain’

The heath workers
strike in Nigeria, which has lingered for several months, may end soon come to an end, as a walk through hospitals, owned by the three tiers of government in Port Harcourt; the Rivers State capital paints a gloomy picture for patriots of these hospitals.
A chat with the Chairman, Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Comrade Kristhien Awoibi, revealed that the government was not holding up its part of the agreements reached at negotiations.
According to him, “The current supervising Minister of Health claims that he knows nothing that has been done by his predecessor and so would not implement the agreements.
He stated that the strike shall continue until steps are taken to implement the agreements that were reached between the government and the health workers unions.
Also speaking in a chat, the Chief Medical Director, UPTH, Dr. Aaron Ojule, believes the strike action would one day come to an end in the near future.
He said, “one day the strike will come to an end, my prayer and that of the striking workers is that the strike would soon be called off and that negotiations at Abuja would be truthful, and in a very short while everyone would be back to work”.
He used the opportunity to announce that UPTH was not closed, saying, “the staff that are not on strike are working, the hospital is not closed, the out patient are working”.
Prof. Osule said that the hospital was looking ways to put in place measures that will enhance the service delivery at the hospital.
“The situation we are in is abnormal and to achieve results, you have to go out of your way to make sacrifices. There are challenges but we are managing, we are considering how to put measures in place to enhance the level of service delivery, while hoping hat the strike would soon be called off”, he added.
Also speaking, an Ear Nose and Throat Nurse, Dare Lawal, expressed the hope that the strike would be called off soon, adding that the situation would be known after the forthcoming stakeholders meeting tomorrow, January 15, 2015.

Tonye Nria-Dappa