The Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI) has called on President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to disregard the call made by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to privatize the nation’s tertiary health institutions rather the union urged the president to appoint a seasoned administrator as health minister.
This statement was contained in a communiqué issued after a two-day meeting of the health sector of the union held at Keffi, Nassarawa State recently. The Union stressed that the outright sale of these hospitals or the concessioning of services in some departments of the Hospitals will negate the purpose for which they were established in the first place and will only take the already expensive health care services out of the reach of majority of Nigerians.
The communiqué which was jointly signed by the Sector Chairman, Comrade Ken Bassey and the Ag. Sector Secretary, Comrade Joseph C. Ugwoke (JP) further argued that the current abysmal performance of our hospitals is not due to lack of skilled manpower in hospital administration, but as a result of massive corruption and mismanagement in government-owned hospitals and advised the presidency to reorganize the management system of the hospitals to make them more efficient and also consult exhaustively with all the appropriate stakeholders to chart a beneficial way forward on service improvement in the health sector.
While commending the Federal Government for the approval and circularization of the review of Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) for Health Workers in the Federal Public Service with effect from 1st June, 2023, SSAUTHRIAI urged relevant government agencies to expedite action on the approval by President Tinubu for the upward adjustment of CONHESS which was part of the reasons JOHESU went on strike in May 2023. The union also called on The President to as a matter of public interest should assent to the bill abolishing the dichotomy between B.Sc. and HND in the country.
On the removal of petrol subsidy, the union expressed dismay at the sudden removal of fuel subsidy without palliative measures put in place to cushion the effects of the removal, which subsequently has led to hyper-inflation, astronomical rise in transportation fares leading to untold hardship brought to bear on overburdened Nigerians. “Council therefore, urges the Federal Government to expeditiously set in motion palliative measures such as:
Reduction in working days for civil servants for the time being.
Tax holiday/Reduction in percentage of Tax paid by civil servants
Payment of wage award to Nigerian workers as done by some State Governments and Financial Institutions.
Roll out of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered mass transit Buses for the benefit of the masses.
All of these palliative measures and more will at least ameliorate the hardship and excruciating pains Nigerian workers and masses are currently passing through.”
The Sectoral Council of SSAUTHRIAI also admonished the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency, plough back savings from the fuel subsidy removal into resuscitating existing refineries owned by the Federal Government ando consider granting more licenses for the constructions of modular refineries to stem the tide of fuel importation which is a blight on us as a natioessed with abundant crude oil deposit.
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