FROM: DESMOND MGBOH, KANO
Prospective employees of Giginyu Specialist Hospital and Zoo Road Pediatric Hospital, constructed by Kano State Government, may have to sign undertaken forbidding them from going on strikes, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has said.
Governor Ganduje gave the indication while inaugurating a 20–man Advisory Committee on the operations of the hospitals, expected to be commissioned soon by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It will not be business as usual. Anybody serving in the two hospitals must sign an agreement that he or she will not go on strike”, the governor emphasized.
The governor also stated that the move was part of strategy to ensure maintenance culture, stressing that “It will not be worthwhile for the government to spend so much money in constructing and equipping the hospitals only for their workers to embark on strikes at will”.
“We will not create a situation where our facilities will be vandalized. Our facilities will not be routed to private hospitals, our facilities will not be destroyed”, he added.
The governor pointed out that the two new hospitals were built mainly to reduce medical tourism by providing high quality health care services to people from across the country and beyond, hence, anything that would jeopardize the vision of constructing them would not be tolerated.
On the Advisory Committee on the hospitals, Governor Ganduje said it would among other things, examine the progress of constructing and equipping them and advice on timely completion as well as articulate a proposal on their operational guidelines.
Chairman of the committee, Dr. Aminu Mgashi, said it would “do a methodical job within the four weeks time frame set for it by the government.”