Kaduna: Health Workers Commence Seven-Day Warning Strike

 

Health workers in Kaduna state have begun a seven-day warning strike action against the state government over the 25 per cent deductions from their salaries, which, they state, is a breach of the Labout Act.

The medical professionals in the state say that they have refused to go to work until the state government gives in to their demands.

The governor had earlier stated, through his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, who said, “Government rejects the strike threat and will regard persons who fail to show up at their assigned places of work as having forfeited their employment.

“To declare strike action amidst the COVID-19 pandemic is naked blackmail.”

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In response to the statement from the governor, health workers stated, in a release, “Kaduna State Government paid between N150,000   and  N450,000  as occupational safety incentives to about 300 selected HCWs (health care workers)  and non-HCWs working as staff or volunteers in the IDCC and isolation centres or serving in some of the COVID-19 pillars. Less than two per cent of the HCWs in the state benefited from the package.

“The promised 10 per cent incentives for other HCWs, though inadequate, has yet to be paid.

“Most health workers that were infected with COVID-19 are from health facilities outside the IDCC and isolation centres and none of them has been paid the purported N100,000 daily for 10 days.

“None of our members working in hospitals has been contacted to give their details for the widely publicised N5m and N2m life and disability insurance, respectively.

“All health workers are exposed to varying degrees of risk of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDs, Lassa fever, Ebola fever among others.

“No adequate PPEs in the state hospitals. Patients buy their own gloves.

“Health workers get their own face masks and protective goggles, among others.”