There is an array of hope that the Joint Health Sector unions (JOHESU) may cancel its strike scheduled to start by Sunday as the unions had been directed to consult its members on the agreements reached with the FG and report back to the Ministry of Labour by Saturday, September 12 following its conciliation meeting with the Federal Government and its officials on Friday,

In a communique issued at the end of the confab, it was disclosed that the FG has apportioned N126 billion in the 2020 COVID-19 intervention Appropriation Act for infrastructure upgrading and equipment for the health.

The communiqué also noted that lack of effective communication made it impossible for the unions to appreciate the degree of investments made in the sector.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; Minister of State, Labour, Festus Keyamo (SAN); Minister of State, Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora; JOHESU Chairman, Biobelemoye Josiah and other officials,  and it was agreed that the unions should be carried along in the affairs of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to ensure proper communication.

Additionally, the parties equally agreed that the private sector engagement should be encouraged so as to add value to the health sector investment generally.

In reaction to the implementation of the Special COVID-19 Hazard and Inducement Allowance, JOHESU alleged that many of its members were either omitted or short-paid, and the meeting agreed that the Federal Ministry of Health should issue a circular to the Chief Medical Directors of the various Health Institutions by Friday, September 11 and requested that they forward the list of members affected by the shortfall to the ministry by Monday.

JOHESU was told to mobilise their members in the local chapters of the tertiary Health Institutions in order to ensure that the CMDs forward the list of their members to the ministry to facilitate the payment.

Debating on the issue of medical personnel in the education sector that were not captured in the first tranche of payments, the communique stated that this omission was not peculiar to JOHESU members alone.

The health minister disclosed that he would consult with the relevant ministers on how to address the issue as clinics/hospitals under Federal Ministries of Education, Justice and Defence were equally affected.

The statement read, “On the request by JOHESU that all health workers who hitherto were being paid N5000 as hazard allowance should be the beneficiaries of the 50 per cent of their consolidated basic salary as Special COVID-19 Hazard and Inducement allowance, irrespective of whether they are or non-core medical professionals; the minister of labour and employment explained that the MoU of April 2020 in 1(d) was explicit on this.

“However, the meeting agreed that this category of workers should be compiled by FMoH and the attendant financial implication should be computed by the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to see if this request can be accommodated within the available funds because they were not in the original classification for 50 per cent.”

With regards to the adjustment of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure as was done with Consolidated Medical Salary Structure since 2014, the meeting noted that the matter had been earlier referred to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria and is one of the problems that cannot be resolved by consensus at the Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism.

The meeting was however adjourned till October 15 to enable the health ministry carry out the assignments.