Health workers in Ebonyi State have called for the immediate sack of the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, over incompetence.
The call followed the allegation that the minister had been playing politics with the health of Nigerians.
The workers claimed that the since the Chukwu was appointed minister, there had been troubles and conflicts in the health sector.
The health workers recalled that Prof Chukwu was sacked as the Chief Medical Director of the Ebonyi State Teaching Hospital by Governor Martin Elechi as a result of his incompetency.
They, however, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to sack Chukwu for the same reason to "avoid further damage to the health sector."
Addressing journalists at a press conference in Abakaliki, Chairman, Medical and Health Workers' Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Ebonyi State chapter, Mr. Ikechukwu Nwafor, said no amount of intimidation, threats or blackmail would stop the union from suspending its ongoing strike.
Nwafor said the strike would only be called off when the demand of the health workers is met.
He said: "Health is an issue that concerns all Nigerians, it cannot be politicised and as a matter of facts, we are beginning to believe that the appointment of Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu as the Minister of Health was done in error because since his appointment, there have been troubles and conflicts in the health sector.
"That is why we are asking that President Goodlock Jonathan should remove him to avoid more problems in the sector or else the votes of Nigerians who need a good health will count even against the President."
Nwafor, however recalled that when Prof Chukwu was the Ebonyi State Teaching Hospital CMD, the state government sacked him. Then, the union pleaded on his behalf and criticised the government for sacking him the way it did.
"Even the day health worker, including Chukwu, went to meet with Elechi, the governor openly accused him of mismanaging workers' salaries.
Chairman of Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professionals, Mr. Obiefuna Okeke, alleged that health workers were being maltreated across the country.
Okeke said that everybody in health sector, including guards and cleaners, are important in the hospital and should be treated like doctors.
Obiefuna said members of the union were committed to the strike and would stay at home for as long as it took the government to implement the earlier agreement.
National Mirror