Ministries summon striking LUTH workers
By Chukwuma Muanya Senior Health Reporter
STRIKING workers of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) have been summoned to Abuja for an extra-ordinary meeting today by the ministries of Health and Labour in a bid to resolve the five-week-old industrial action.
The employees comprising pharmacists, laboratory scientists, nurses, midwives, secretaries and non-academic staff, have also insisted that unless the hospital's Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Olutolu Odukoya, is removed, they will not go back to work even if their other demands are met.
The striking unions include the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Non Academic Staff Union (NASU), Association of Laboratory Medical Scientists (ALMS), National Association of Hospital Pharmacists (NAHAP) and National Association of Professional Secretaries Organisation of Nigeria (NAPPSON).
Apart from the removal of the CMD, the workers' demands also include 19 months Harmonised Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (HATISS) increase; restoration of LUTH to a five-star hospital and prompt payment of salaries.
This was disclosed to The Guardian by the Vice-chairman, Medical and Health Workers Union, Virgilus Agu, in Lagos yesterday.
Agu said: "There is going to be an emergency meeting tomorrow (today) between all the striking unions here and the ministers of Health and Labour. The two ministers requested our executives to come to Abuja today (yesterday) for a very important meeting tomorrow (today).
"The summons was through phone, so we could not get the agenda. But our agenda is the removal of Odukoya and 19 months arrears of the 22 per cent HATISS increase.
"I cannot say when we are resuming, but if Odukoya is removed today, I assure you we will call off the strike even without the government fulfilling the other demands. I joined LUTH in 1977 and the hospital was so fine until Odukoya came in.
"Since he came in, LUTH has never been the same. Even if the 19 months HATISS increase is paid today, we still want his removal. If he does not go, we will not resume work," he added.
The LUTH management has, however, stated that it does not have the money to pay the striking workers.
Odukoya told The Guardian: "With the present precarious situation, management will not be in a position to satisfy the request of the striking workers. We are doubling efforts to solicit help from government for accelerated release of funds to help settle the outstanding arrears and correct the shortfalls in monthly salary subventions."
The Minister of State for Health, Funke Adedoyin, had earlier in the week during a visit to LUTH promised the striking workers that the 19 months HATISS increase and the outstanding salaries would be paid by the end of the month.
She urged them to call off the strike.
But the workers had this to say:
"We do not want promises. We have been taking promises from the minister of Health and the management, and nothing has ever come out of it. We are not going to be deceived any longer."
The Guardian gathered that medical students examinations have been shifted to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, because of the strike.
Investigations also revealed that the hospital's management has spent not less than N200,000 on the provision of extra security since the strike started.
All the wards, including the ever-busy emergency and outpatient departments, were deserted. Hygienic has also degenerated, as electricity and water supplies are now epileptic.
Also, the hospital is no longer providing skeletal health services as promised by the management.
Doctors who spoke to The Guardian pleaded anonymity and blamed the crisis on bad management.
They believed that the hospital had the capacity to generate enough resources to pay the striking workers and resuscitate its decaying facilities.
