ABUJA -Workers of the National Hospital Abuja, today began a three-day protest against alleged insensitivity of the hospital’s management to their welfare.
Alhaji Gambo Abdulkadir, Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives of the Hospital, said the protest would last from 8 a.m. to 12 noon daily.
He said: “We are protesting, to press home our demand for an improved welfare from the management of this hospital “We have been here since 1999 and we have enjoyed only one promotion,” he told newsmen.
According to him, the civil service rule stipulates that senior members of staff should be promoted every three years, while their junior counterparts every two years.
“A junior staff is supposed to have enjoyed four promotions, while a senior staff would have enjoyed three by now,’’ he said.
Abdulkadir expressed dismay that the appointments of some staff who had been working for more than four years, were yet to be confirmed.
“And the civil service rule says confirmation of appointments should not take more than two years.
“The last promotion interview was conducted in September 2007 and the results are yet to be released till date,” he noted.
According to him, the dissolution of the boards of parastatal agencies in November 2007 constituted a set-back to the interview process.
“They sent the result to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and it has been there since then.
“The management always tells us each time they visit the office of the SGF, that the results were still being worked upon, and our members are disturbed ,” he said.
Abdulkadir added that workers in the hospital had been working without condition of service for the past nine years.
“We are just operating blindly and the management does it feels like.
“Our welfare and the condition of the hospital in general are very poor.
A lot of equipment have broken down for a long time without repairs.
“Most times we do not have hand gloves, syringes and specimen bottles in the wards to work with.
“We have been in touch with the management about these things but they have failed to be sensitive to our demands.
That is why we have decided to protest and we will not work for those periods.
“If our demands are not met after the three days, we will take another action, “ Abdulkadir said.
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