The Akure Businessmen and Professionals Roundtable (ABPR) has lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, through the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, on the resolution of the labour crisis which engulfed the Federal University Teaching Hospital (FUTATH).
This is coming on the suspension of the industrial action embarked upon by organised labour in the university.
It will be recalled that an industrial crisis by the Ondo state organised labour unions which engulfed FUTATH, which was called off yesterday, had grossly affected the teaching hospital, causing untold hardships to patients, students and apprehension to its host community and residents of Ondo State in general.
In a release issued by Dr. Olufemi Oyinsan, ABPR acknowledged Prof Pate’s patriotic interventions towards the suspension of the strike action, and his commitment to the Renewed Hope agenda of the Federal Government in the health sector, especially President Tinubu’s fulfillment of his promise of the teaching hospital project to the Akure patriarch, Dr. Reuben Fasoranti.
ABPR also described as “empty threats” boasts from some quarters, which it said were against the president’s vision for Akure people, that any individual could withdraw the Akure General Hospital project from the Federal Government.
“ABPR welcomes the recent intervention by Prof Pate to restore normalcy of operation in FUTATH, in fulfillment of the Renewed Hope agenda. The unfortunate and unwarranted crisis created by the Ondo State Organised Labour Unions truncated this laudable Tinubu project at the newly established teaching hospital,” the release said.
While expressing “complete solidarity” with the Ondo State health workers agitating for absorption into the FUTA Teaching Hospital, the statement also expressed its pleasure that, following the minister’s intervention, the Federal Ministry of Health has begun taking steps to obtain approval of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation to widen the authorized takeoff establishment of the hospital, to accommodate additional staff from the old UNIMED Teaching Hospital.
It called on the Lucky Aiyedatiwa government to strengthen its health delivery by expanding the Akure Mother and Child Hospital and build additional hospitals to replace the Akure General Hospital handed over to the FG.
ABPR however expressed what it called “our deep disappointment” at the lukewarm posture of the Ondo State Government and some highly-placed persons in the state capital to the labour crisis, which it said gave room for its festering and closure of the public hospital for such a long time, with its attendant effects on its hapless patients.
“Without a doubt, this unfortunate shutdown of the hospital must have had grave human and colossal economic consequences. For many residents, especially the low-income families, who cannot afford private care, the hospital is the only realistic source of emergency treatment, maternal and child health services, and chronic-care follow-up and they had been denied access to these services for this long,” it said.
The group further noted that engagement with the FG through the Coordinating Minister by the Ondo State Government to resolve staffing and service concerns could have have been initiated as the first move much earlier, without recourse to what it called “this costly misadventure.”
In its words, “negotiations and advocacy are necessary and legitimate, but they must never come at the cost of patients’ lives and wellbeing. Responsible governance and labour unionism need not cost human lives and dire economic consequences as it has, in this case, for disputes to be resolved.”
While urging labour leaders to henceforth adopt enlightened dispute-resolution methods that protect essential services and to commit to avoiding future actions that endanger public health, ABPR urged FG and the Coordinating Minister to continue with the promised support, particularly the resources needed to restore full capacity to the hospital
“Our community must not be placed in a position where healthcare access would depend on the whims and caprices of a few individuals” ABPR said.
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