Hope of restoration of medical services to the public was dashed by a local strike by allied health workers in the institution, who decided to strike because of allowances owed them. The aggrieved collective commenced an indefinite strike which paralyzed medical services, leading to a total shutdown of the hospital on August 12. Continue...
Our correspondent, who visited FMC Yenagoa on Wednesday, reports that the wards, consultation clinics, pharmacy, laboratories, and other departments in the hospital remained shut.
Dr. Israel Jeremiah, Bayelsa Branch Chairman of the NMA, said in a telephone interview that doctors in the state had complied with the directive of the NMA national leadership and returned to work on Monday.
He however regretted that the ongoing local strike by other health professionals at the Federal Medical Centre was frustrating the efforts of the doctors to restore medical services.
"We are on the same page with the national leadership of the NMA, as I talk with you I am at work at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital and work is ongoing, unfortunately at the FMC, health workers have locked up the place," he said.
"Due to the ongoing strike of the other health workers, the hospital remained closed but doctors are ready to work," he furthered.
Dr. Ebitimi Etebu, Chief Medical Director of FMC Yenagoa, further confirmed that medical service was yet to be restored to the health institution even though doctors had suspended their strike on Monday.
He said that the strike by other health workers over promotion arrears was unfounded as there was a general funding gap in the health sector that necessitated owing them promotion arrears.
The director accused the unions of sabotaging the efforts of the hospital management to restore medical services in the tertiary hospital which serves as a surveillance centre for Ebola virus disease in Bayelsa.
"I have insisted on a meeting with all the hospital workers because their leaders have deliberately been misinforming them and I am waiting for them to fix a meeting before they call off the strike," Etebu said.
"Some of their demands are totally strange, so I need to explain issues directly to workers, I believe when the workers get the facts straight they will come back to work," he added. "The unions have a suspicious agenda," he said.
However, Mr. Simon Bernabas, Coordinator of the Joint Health Sector Unions at FMC Yenagoa, said that hospital management had remained adamant against the demands of the workers.
“There has not been any form of dialogue between the workers’ representatives and the hospital management even though we made it clear that we remained open to dialogue, they simply ignored us," Bernabas said.
“We are aware that our colleagues in other Federal Medical Centres are enjoying some of these allowances we are agitating for, that is why the reason they give that it is a 'national thing' is not convincing at all,” Bernabas said.
The Chairman of Bayelsa Government Task Force on Ebola, Dr. Ayebatonye Owei, who doubles as Health Commissioner in Bayelsa, has evaded comments on the closure of the hospital.
Dr. Jeremiah, Bayelsa Branch Chairman of the NMA, is optimistic that things will soon be resolved, however, given the gravity of the situation. "I believe the hospital management will be on top of the situation to bring the workers back to work," he said.
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