From Raji Bello, Sokoto
The Chief Medical Director of the UsmanuDanfodio University Teaching Hospital (UDUTIH), Sokoto, Dr. Yakub Ahmed, has appealed to the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association(NMA), to shelve their industrial action.
He explained that the Minister of Health did not mandate the management of UDUTH to implement skipping policy for medical and dental staff of the hospital as conceived by the union.
He also said the management of the hospital lacked the required N644 million to implement skipping policy for 188 medical and dental workers as well as settle other payments for consultants and other staff for this year.
His words: “the doctors are not part of the skipping policy they are agitating for. They are already having CONHESS, which has been implemented but skipping is for JUHSUN members.”
Ahmed however said the management was not unaware of the union’s demand, adding that efforts are being made to resolve it amicably.
It would be recalled that the state Chairman of NMA, Dr.AbubakarPanti, told a press conference that the Association was compelled to resume strike, following the inability of the management to reverse what it described as “discriminatory treatment” meted out to doctors in its workforce by not implementing the skipping policy.
The striking doctors had harped their decision to down tools on the directives from the Head of Service of the Federation and Minister of Health on December 19, 2013 that mandates the management to implement skipping for medical and dental officers in the federal hospital.
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