The Chief Medical Director of the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, Dr. Faiz-Alimi Mustapha, has deplored the ongoing nationwide strike by the Joint Health Workers Sector Union, saying health workers should place the sanctity of human life above their pecuniary interests.
Mustapha, who spoke to our correspondent, at the weekend, noted that though industrial action in the health sector had been occurring for long, resulting in people losing confidence in the public health sector, health workers should also have respect and value for human life when it comes to their work.
He said, “Industrial action in the health sector has been occurring for long, and we appreciate government efforts in trying to address it once and for all. The public health sector is losing confidence of the public because of the lack of stability in the health sector.
“As health workers, inasmuch as we want to demand for our rights, we should also respect the sanctity of life. Despite that, we want a holistic address that will put an end to all these issues such that we can have four or five years of no industrial
action.”
Speaking in the same vein, the President of the Association of Clinical and Academic Physiotherapists of Nigeria, Prof. Rufus Adedoyin, described the strike as a selfish action by the workers.
Adedoyin expressed regret that strikes in the health sector had become a recurrent issue, especially over remuneration.
He noted that health workers in the country were only concerned about their pockets and not how the nation’s health sector could be rejuvenated so that Nigeria could have a viable and vibrant health sector.
The ACAPN boss said, “The strike issue in the health sector, to me, is an act of selfishness on the part of health workers. All of us in that sector are not sincere with ourselves. Doctors have their own problems, likewise the health workers. All these strikes going on in the health sector are always attached to remuneration issues, issues concerning money.
“We have never talked about infrastructure or how Nigeria can develop itself clinically. We don’t discuss how we cannot cope because of lack of equipment. These are issues I feel health workers should bring to the front burner; not only about
money.
“All of us are patients; we have seen medical doctors in times of emergency. They will think that their colleagues cannot help because of non-availability of hospitals or ambulance. So, everybody is affected by this strike because anybody can fall sick at any time. Doctors have children and aged parents that do fall sick at one time or the other. It is an usual thing for the doctors to go on strike and the government will call them to accede to
their requests. You should know that other people would come out to do the same and start their own strike. That has been happening.”
