The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Lagos University Teaching Hospital chapter on Wednesday said it would continue its ongoing indefinite strike until their demands were met.
Yemisi Adelaja, the association’s Chairperson, told newsmen in Lagos that the management of the institution had yet to dialogue with them.
According to Adelaja, the nurses are ready to discuss with the management if the Chief Medical Director will be present at the meeting.
“We honoured the meeting because of the love we have for our patients and the institution where we work, but the CMD refused to be present at the meeting.
“The CMD has never been physically present in any meeting with the aggrieved nurses so far.
“We exhausted all the ultimatums as stipulated by the labour law; we reviewed it again as ordered by State chapter of NANNM, but all were taken for granted by the CMD and his management team.”
She said: “As LUTH nurses, we have the interest of our patients paramount in our hearts, in spite of the limited resources in the hospital.
“We improvise virtually everything in the hospital, especially at night, using all manners of lighting devices in the dark wards and units of LUTH.”
Adelaja also noted that the LUTH management did not present the issues at hand to the Federal Ministry of Health properly for necessary action.
She added: “The management took this crisis with levity and this has given other healthcare providers room to go about their personal private practice.
“Instead of the management seeking lasting solution, they went about making propagandas on print, radio, TV and social media.”
Also speaking, Olurotimi Awojide, the Lagos State Chairman of NANNM, said LUTH’s management had also denied some of their colleagues of their deserved promotion from on CONHESS 12 to 13 (ACNO – CNO).
On the Industrial Court’s judgment on SKIPPING of 2012, Awojide said LUTH management refused to obey the judgment that stated that nurses are professionals.
Reacting to the development, Dr. Olufemi Fasanmade , the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee of LUTH, said the management had used the strategy of dialogue and lobbying to address the demands of the nurses.
Fasanmade said: “LUTH’s management continues to dialogue with the Federal Ministry of Health to take yet another look at this national issue.
He said: “If, perhaps, other institutions were treated differently last year, our nurses’ plight may be reviewed.
“The Ministry has promised to come out soon with a holistic response on this matter and until then, we implore the aggrieved parties to sheath their swords.
“The Ministry of Labour and Productivity has mediated at a number of meetings, persuading the association to resume work, while dialogue continues, but this has proved abortive.”
Correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria who visited some of the wards in LUTH observed that few patients were seen being attended to as manpower had greatly reduced due to the strike embarked upon by the nurses.
The strike had also compelled some relatives to evacuate their loved ones to alternative hospitals.
