The strike action embarked by the Joint Health Staff Union (JOHESU) worsened on last week as patients were compulsorily discharged from the Jos Teaching Hospital (JUTH).
It would be recalled that the workers had embarked on strike about a month ago as a result of poor services, lack of basic facilities as well as the implementation of the no-work-no-pay policy of the management of the hospital.
This action has prompted the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), JUTH, to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the lingering trade dispute between the doctors and management of the institution, failing which they would join other workers in the strike.
JOHESU’s action had paralysed activities at the hospital for weeks now. They are also demanding the resignation of the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Prof. Edmund Banwat.
Apart from the strike, the workers had been staging peaceful protests at the premises of the hospital to bring the attention of the Federal Government to what the JOHESU Chairman, Plateau State Chapter, Mr. Mustapha Kabiru described as “total system failure and insensitivity” to their plight by the management of the JUTH.
Addressing journalists in Jos, Thursday, the President of ARD, Dr. Kefas Ibrahim, said that they will not hesitate to ground the entire activities to a halt if President Muhammad Buhari did not intervene.
He said that what was happening in JUTH was not different from what had been happening in other institutions, but that of JUTH had prolonged because of the style of the management.