Okey Sampson, Umuahia

Abia State government has said it was going to parley with the Joint
Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), over the arrears of salary owed health
workers in the state. This is even as JOHESU has issued a 15-day
ultimatum to the state government to clear salary arrears owed workers
of the union or risk total shutdown of the state health sector.

In an interview, the state Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi-kalu said government was meeting with the union leaders to tackle issues around salary owed workers in HMB and ABSUTH.

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Okiyi-Kalu said government appreciated the sacrifices of health
workers in the state especially during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, adding that in coming days, government will engage JOHESU members to sort out grey areas and ensured they are paid.

However, addressing members of JOHESU at Federal Medical Centre
Umuahia, the state chairman, Comrade Okoro Ogbonnaya, decried the neglect of health workers in the state and called on the state government to pay attention to their plight.

Okoro, who lamented that health workers in Abia State have been owed many months of arrears of salary. He as lamented noted the systematic exclusion of his members in the payment of the new minimum wage and called for
the implementation of the agreed 2011 consolidated health salary structure (CONHOSS).