Essential medical services were on Wednesday paralysed at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Ebute-Meta, Lagos, as some health workers embarked on indefinite strike over unresolved issues.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workers, under the aegis of Medical and Health Workers Union (MHWN), had on Tuesday resolved to embark on strike.
The workers on strike include hospital attendants, maintenance officers, medical records officers and administrative staff in different units and departments.
Mr Ebenezer Akande, the union chairman, said that his members decided to down tools to address some issues relating to the closure of the staff clinic and irregularities in their pension fund deductions.
“Although, we have been enrolled into the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), the payment of our salaries by IPPIS has yet to be effective.
“We have also discovered that the amount deducted from our salary by PENCOM did not correlate with the amount on our pay slips,” Akande said.
He called on the management to accede to their demands to end the industrial action.
In his reaction, Mr Harrison Etim, the FMC Director, Corporate Affairs, appealed to the striking health workers to reconsider their action.
Etim said that the management was awaiting the directive of the Federal Ministry of Finance on the appropriate step it would take on the IPPIS enrollment.
“Concerning the IPPIS, the required procedures have been done and we have forwarded it to the Federal Ministry of Finance to give directive on the conclusion of the process.
“There are about 57 federal hospitals in Nigeria and not all the 57 have been fully captured by IPPIS.
“On the issue of irregularities in the pension fund, we have forwarded the names of the affected staff to the Federal Ministry of Finance and we hope it will be rectified soon,” Etim said.