From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Scores of in-patients at the National Orthopaedic Hospital (NOH), Dala-Kano, have been discharged as the industrial action called by the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) enters its second day.
The in-patients, who were seen departing the foremost national orthopaedic hospital, were encouraged to seek medical help elsewhere following the withdrawal of nursing services at the hospital.
In an interview with Daily Sun on Wednesday, July 30, the Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), National Orthopaedic Hospital (NOH), Dala-Kano branch, Abubakar Mohammed Isa, recognised the pains and challenges faced by the patients but insisted that the union could do little as they were complying with the directive of their national body.
He confirmed that the in-patients, some of whom were from outside the state and the country, had been discharged, adding that it was expected that the remaining patients would leave by tomorrow, Thursday, July 31.
Isa, a renowned unionist, affirmed that the management of the orthopaedic hospital had been engaging his leadership in a bid to provide skeletal nursing services but added that their meeting with the management produced little outcome.
He, however, hinted that the union might give special consideration to dialysis patients, given the peculiar nature of their ailment.
Isa urged the federal government to urgently address their unmet demands and grievances, stressing that some of these demands have been on the table for the last 20 years.
He said that among their demands is the implementation of a separate salary scheme, adding that a separate salary scheme would take care of the peculiar nature of the job of the nurses and midwives, who represent over 70 per cent of the workforce in hospitals in Nigeria.
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