By Abel Leonard
Dr. Hassan Ikrama the chief medical Director of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia yesterday appealed to health workers in the state to supend strike action for the total progress of the country.
Dr. Hassan who disclosed this while briefing newsmen on Wednesday in Lafia, saying that the hospital now have additional responsibility with COVID-19 patients on admission.
He further stressed that all the worries of the workers for COVID-19 hazard allowances were being discussed with the government, the management. Efforts are made already to ensure that patients don’t go through stress as a result of the strike.
In his words he said that “The state government has so far offered to pay 40 per cent as against the 50 per cent the Federal Government is paying as hazard allowances.
“Negotiation is still ongoing and I believe that with the intervention of Gov. Abdullahi Sule, the matter will soon be resolved,” the CMD said.
Dr. Ikrama made it clear that at the moment, the management had taken measures to ensure that patients are giving adequate attention at the isolation centres manned consultants and other nurses on casual appointments while also providing skeletal services in other sections of the hospital.
You would recall that daybreak news reports that resident doctors and other health workers at DASH on Tuesday embarked on a seven-day warning strike to demand the adequate provision of Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) and improved welfare.
However, the striking health workers include the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) among others.
Mr Alizi Maga, Chairman of NANNM at DASH who spoke on behalf of the various unions told newsmen in Lafia that the strike became necessary following the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum given to the state government.
Maga said that their demands included the provision of adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), implementation of COVID-19 hazard allowances as well as an insurance scheme for members fighting the pandemic.
