Doctors in Kaduna State have described the striking Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) as a gang up against the Nigerian people and the government.
Jointly addressing a press conference in Kaduna yesterday, the chairman and secretary of the state chapter of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Abdulrahman Shehu and Dr. Moses Tuko respectively called on Nigerians and the federal government to declare JOHESU illegal and unknown to the law.
They said any group of healthcare professionals with perceived and genuine grievance should follow lawfully established procedure to seek redress.
They added that doctors in all public hospitals have been going about their legitimate duties and even going to go extra miles to cover for the absence of the allied health professionals in some of the facilities, particularly, the federal tertiary health facilities.
The president of JOHESU, Josiah Biobelemoye, had attributed the industrial action to the ‘insensitivity and lackadaisical attitude of drivers of the health sector’. He listed the union’s demand to include: upward adjustment of CONHESS Salary Scale, arrears of skipping of CONHESS 10 and employment of additional health professionals. Other demands are implementation of court judgments and upward review of retirement age from 60 to 65 years among others.
