Protests rock Jos University Teaching Hospital

For the second time in two weeks, staff of Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), have protested the alleged refusal of the Chief Medical Director, Professor Edmund Banwat, to address the contending issues militating against the smooth operation of the hospital.

The latest protest by the Nurses and Midwives is coming after resident doctors at the hospital penultimate week, led a protest against the hospital management, accusing it of staff persecution, secret retrenchment and disobedience to judicial pronouncements, among others.

This is even as the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria had also accused the CMD of poor management of the hospital, threatening to shut down the health institution at the end of November if there was no improvement in the services at the hospital.

The protesting Nurses and Midwives disrupted activities at the hospital, accusing the CMD of withholding their call and shift duty allowances, as well as, wrongful application of no-work-no-pay policy.

Chairman of National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Vongdip Lashin, who addressed journalists, said his members had suffered so much in the hands of JUTH Management despite their continuous dedication and sacrifices in the course of their duties.

Lashin asserted, “We are deeply saddened by the maladministration and mismanagement of the only federal tertiary health institution in Plateau State, which is a feeder to over nine states within the North Central geopolitical zone.

The chairman, who said they had exhausted every avenue to make the CMD change his anti-workers  policies, called on stakeholders in the state and other Nigerians to intervene in their situation so as to save the hospital from total collapse.