Bimbola Oyesola, [email protected]
Organised labour has reiterated the need for government to invest heavily in the health sector, as no country survives without effective health care.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), joining the world to celebrate health workers for their role in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, said it has become more important for government to finance the sector.
The NLC resident, Ayuba Wabba, also emphasized that there could be no better time to stop medical tourism.
“Finally, we call for an end to all forms of medical tourism, especially by our elected and appointed public officials,” he said.
Wabba said the theme for this year’s 2020 Global Day of Action on Care event was apt as it highlights the urgent need for massive investment in the care sector.
He said, “COVID-19 has fully exposed several countries, including Nigeria, as not having invested enough in health care institutions, putting everyone, both rich and poor, at high risk.
“The theme: ‘Invest in Care Now!’ is to drum up demands for heavy investments in the care sector by our government and big businesses, if we must keep a healthy society and productive human resource base.”
He expressed the view that government waited for the pandemic before it woke up to the reality of the decadence in the health care sector, adding that, even now, enough has not been done to properly equip the sector and properly kit health workers across the country.
The labour leader said, with the massive resources at government’s disposal, Nigeria can afford to build and effectively equip some of the best hospitals in the world, with global best practices and personnel, but successive governments have failed to take health care as a top priority beyond mere policy statements.
Wabba said, “We believe now is the time for our government at all levels to demonstrate more than keen attention on the health sector. The current pandemic has shown how important health care is to all sectors and citizens of any country.
“Owing to COVID-19 pandemic, our economy has suffered huge losses both in human and capital investment. No country will grow with such avoidable losses.”
The NLC president lamented that, apart from the open fact that the nation’s health care sector has been neglected for too long, health care workers equally have been subjected to unfair treatment for too long.
According to him, essential workers, as they are often called at crisis times, did not have the necessary personal protective equipment to work with, especially before the outbreak of COVID-19: “The COVID-19 pandemic has also exposed the risks health care workers face daily in the course of their duties as they don’t have adequate and appropriate safety gears, access to their own health care, extended to their families as well as decent pay commensurate with the work they do.
“Health care workers also need standard day care centres to keep their children when schools are not open and or infants that are not of school age, to enable them concentrate on their work. It is also important that they are granted paid medical leave that includes their immediate families. This will also help to curb the spread of airborne diseases they are exposed to at their workplaces.”
He maintained that the NLC would advocate full membership of trade unions by all health workers, including those in private facilities, as that would give them coverage to demand their rights and enable unions monitor safety standards at the care centres or hospitals.
“This will form part of our campaign in support of health care workers across the country in both public and private sectors.
“We will carry out these campaigns in collaboration with our affiliates in the health sector and also in partnership with willing associations or organisations among civil society organisations,” he said. Wabba also called on the Federal Government to pay the two months’ salaries owed health workers arising from an industrial dispute in 2018.
He said, “The recent seven-days warning strike by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) to resolve the outstanding issues is yet to receive the attention of government and a social dialogue meeting on this matter is yet to be convened.
“We also demand a quick conclusion on negotiations on salary adjustment for JOHESU members, in line with alternative dispute resolution processes of National Industrial Court of Nigeria, which all parties involved in the negotiation were subjected to.”