The Akure Business and Professionals Roundtable (ABPR) has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, through the Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, for the resolution of the labor crisis that affected the Federal University Hospital (FUTATH).
This is due to the suspension of industrial action undertaken by the unions at the university.
It will be recalled that an industrial crisis caused by the organized labor unions in Ondo State that affected FUTATH, which was canceled yesterday, severely affected the teaching hospital, causing untold hardship to patients, students and apprehension to its host community and residents of Ondo State in general.
In a statement issued by Dr. Olufemi Oyinsan, ABPR acknowledged Professor Pate’s patriotic interventions for the suspension of the strike and his commitment to the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope agenda in the health sector, especially President Tinubu’s fulfillment of his teaching hospital project promise to Akure Patriarch, Dr. Reuben Fasoranti.
The ABPR also described as “empty threats” the boasts by some quarters, which it said were against the President’s vision for the people of Akure, that any individual could withdraw the Akure General Hospital project from the Federal Government.
“ABPR welcomes the recent intervention of Professor Pate to restore normal functioning at FUTATH, in furtherance of the Renewed Hope agenda. The unfortunate and unwarranted crisis created by the Ondo State Organized Trade Unions cut short this laudable Tinubu project at the newly established teaching hospital,” the statement said.
While expressing “complete solidarity” with the Ondo State health workers agitating to be absorbed into the FUTA Teaching Hospital, the statement also expressed satisfaction that following the minister’s intervention, the Federal Ministry of Health has begun taking steps to obtain approval from the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to expand the licensed outlet facility of the hospital, to accommodate additional staff from the former UNIMED Teaching Hospital.
He called on the Lucky Aiyedatiwa government to strengthen its health service delivery by expanding the Akure Mother and Child Hospital and constructing additional hospitals to replace the Akure General Hospital handed over to the FG.
The ABPR, however, expressed what it called “our deep disappointment” over the lukewarm stance of the Ondo State Government and some senior persons in the state capital towards the labor crisis, which it said resulted in its aggravation and closure of the public hospital for so long, with consequent effects on its hapless patients.
“Without a doubt, this unfortunate closure of the hospital must have had serious colossal human and economic consequences. For many residents, especially 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 have been denied access to these services for so long,” he said.
The group further noted that the engagement with the FG through the Coordinating Minister by the Ondo State Government to resolve personnel and service issues could have been initiated as a first step much earlier, without resorting to what it called “this costly misadventure.”
In his words, “negotiations and advocacy are necessary and legitimate, but they should never come at the cost of the lives and well-being of patients. Responsible governance and unionism do not have to cost human lives or dire economic consequences as they have, in this case, to resolve disputes.”
While urging union leaders to henceforth adopt enlightened dispute resolution methods that protect essential services and commit to avoiding future actions that jeopardize public health, ABPR urged FG and the Coordinating Minister to continue the promised support, particularly the resources needed to restore full hospital capacity.
“Our community should not be put in a position where access to health care is dependent on the whims and caprices of a few individuals,” the ABPR said.
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