The striking health workers have warned Nigerians against using government hospitals during the ongoing Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) strike.
They noted that government hospitals have become death traps due to the JOHESU strike
Speaking under the umbrella body of Professional Associations in JOHESU (AHPA), the group warned the public not to put their lives at risk by seeking healthcare services in the health institutions.
They alleged that chief executives of health institutions have hired unqualified hands to attend to patients in the hospitals.
The workers also blamed the Ministry of Health for the continued unrest in the sector.
The group stated that they would not be cowed by the draconian directives of “no work-no pay rule” by the ministry.
Dr. Godswill Okara, who read the group’s prepared statement, said AHPA was worried with the way the ministry in collaboration with the medical doctors were trying to run the hospitals since the beginning of the strike action.
He said: “We are further worried and therefore we want to warn members of the public to be wary of seeking healthcare services in all the tertiary health institutions in the country while the strike lasts. This is because, in compliance with the obnoxious circular, chief executives of these health institutions have now gone ahead to recruit charlatans and quacks, who are mainly their cronies and relatives to hold out as healthcare professionals attending to patients in these hospitals.
“As we speak to you now we have discovered such cases in some FMCs including in the FCT and Owerri, where these quacks are now holding sway and maiming patients in the process.
“In one instance, an HIV negative patient has been issued with a positive result. And we have also been reliably informed that one medical director, in violation of extant rules on Public Private Partnership (PPP), brought into the hospital premises his relations to help him divert patients to his private hospital and equally stationed some other quacks to help him take patients’ specimens to questionable places for analyses.
“Some patients are now being issued with very doubtful Liver and Renal Function test results. No thanks to the promotion of quackery by the FMoH in these institutions to the detriment of the members of the public.”
The group urged the security agencies to investigate the allegations so as to end the trend and save lives.
“We urge the DSS to beam its investigative searchlights on all the tertiary hospitals where JOHESU members are currently on strike with a view to unraveling more of these corrupt practices, criminal acts and atrocities.”