By 247ureports
Copyright 247ureports
By Okey Maduforo Awka .
Chukwuemaka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital Amaku in Awka Capital has been shutdown following the mon payment of the agreed increment of salary scale.
The strike which was embarked upon by the Joint Health Sector Unions JUHESU Amaku chapter has also left a lot of patients stranded as they cannot be attended to .
Though the nurses and doctors are not on strike the allied medical workers who are on strike has frustrated medical services in the Teaching Hospital.
At the wards , the patients complained that they are not being attended to adding that though the doctors and nurses are working, the allied health workers are not there to provide the needed medical assistance to help them .
The striking workers who were seen monitoring the compliance to the industrial action visited wards and medical facilities to ensure that their members are not working.
When contacted on phone the Commissioner for Health Dr Obidike could not pick his calls while the Chief Medical Director CMD of the Teaching Hospital was said not to be on seat.
According to the Chairman of Joint Health Sector Unions JUHESU Amaku; Comerade Afam Kanayo Udozo ; the doctors and nurses are working but the Hospital is dead due to the strike action.
“Doctors are working but since we are not working the hospital is dead” .
“Our grouse is simple, in 2010 salary structures for the Medical Doctors and the health workers it called Consolidated Medical Salaries Structure CONMES ”
But he lamented that while the doctors have been settled, the rest of the allied health workers have not been settled despite series of meetings, negotiations and promises .
“The rest is Consolidated Heath Salary Structure and the doctors salary scale was bigger but it is a team”
“In 2010 the government gave the doctors their salary structure in 2014 they government increase their own but did not increase ours” .
“So the gap increased and it was no longer fair ”
He recalled that they have been meeting with with the state government through the Secretary to the State Government SSG as well as the Commissioner for Health without any results.
“This strike about that COMHES in this Anambra state government has settled all Medical Doctors in Amaku hospital in the state and in the local government the latest model 2024 and they are going to pay them 100 percent and that is what they would be taking home ”
“Our Resident Doctors recently went on strike and the Government paid them everything including their school fees ”
“We are asking for the implementation of our little increment here as you did to others” .
“We are not talking about the size of the Doctors but the little one that was approved for payment but they said no!”
“It is implemented in Amaku , sub-optimally but since they increased it in. 2024 it is no longer the 90 percent increment”
“We gave government an ultimatum in December 2024 and we were to go on strike in January this year but the Secretary to the State Government called us for a meeting in his office and said please didn’t go on strike and let us talk about it and we agreed”
“After that the meetings did not yelled anything tangible and we issued another ultimatum and they called us a gain that we should not go on strike that they are working on it ”
Udozo further lamented that their members had severally accused us of selling out adding that they are now seen as ultimatum Chairmen.
“At that point our members began to distrust us calling us ultimatum Chairmen and that we have compromised”
“We gave a third ultimatum and they came again pleading”
“The major demands out of the three demands is COMHES and other states have implemented it but not Anambra and we are poorest paid in the South East which is the flagship”
“They approved two out of the three demands but not the flagship and the Commissioner for Health called us and pleaded from r four weeks that Governor is going to do something about it ”
“That four weeks ended last night yesterday and finally we have no choice after nine months later we are now are on strike”
He however noted that the body is open for talks with government stating that should government do the needful the strike would be called but for now it remains indefinite.
“However our phones are open and we are expecting calls from them but while we await their calls the strike remains indefinite”
