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Health workers in Kaduna State have demanded immediate refund of the 25% deducted in their April, 2020 salary and a stoppage of further deductions failure which they would embark on industrial action without notification.
The workers in a communique issued at the end of the joint meeting of all the health workers in Kaduna State last week said they rejected in its entirety the deduction of 25% of healthcare workers salary as this is illegal and has reduced the morale of workers in the frontline.
According to the workers, the 25% of healthcare workers’ salaries was illegally slashed in the month of April 2020 without due consultations with the attendant demotivation of the healthcare workforce.
The unions, who warned that if government fails to meet the above demands, the communique shall serve as an ultimatum to the state government stressed that they shall be left with no option than to take all the necessary actions within the Labour laws.
Among other things, the workers also lamented that the quarantine order imposed on the state exempted healthcare workers who have been in the frontline of the battle against COVID 19 in the state and have continued to offer services to Non COVID-19 patients since the lockdown began.
The communique added, “That there is no clear definition of the different categories of healthcare workers in the occupational safety incentives announced by the state government.
“All health workers currently in contact with patients or body specimens are at high risk of exposure to COVID -19 and other infectious diseases and should be categorized as such in the Occupational Safety insensitive of the state overnment.”
The workers who said there are inadequate Personal Protective Equipments at the state hospitals and primary health centres urged the state government to provide adequate basic PPEs to all the health facilities across the state.
The various health workers unions at the meeting include National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Association of Medical Laboratory Scientist, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Association of Resident Doctors, Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (BDTH), National Association of Community Health practitioners of Nigeria, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists of Nigeria (AHAPN), National Association of Pharmaceutical Technologist and Pharmacy Technician of Nigeria, Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy, Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) and Joint Health Workers Union (JOHESU).
