Following decision by management of University of Portharcourt Teaching Hospital to reopen critical units of the hospital to the public shut down due to the lingering strike by Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), Chairman of the Union, Dr. Chris Mbata has threatened to take legal actions against the management of the Hospital for securing the services of Red Cross to fill the gaps of JOHESU workers.
The chairman who disclosed this to TPCN correspondent Tina Stephen, said that
there is no legal backing for Red Cross to do jobs they are not professionally trained to do.
He stressed that the management of UPTH should stop giving the public the impression that all is well in the hospital, adding that they should liaise with the federal
government to do the needful.
“What is a Red Cross personnel going to do in the hospital where you have professionals licensed by law to do their work? Rivers people should beware of their antics. Once you use someone that is not licensed by law to do a job, the person automatically is quack and if you use quacks, the full weight of law befalls you.
“How many Red Cross officials do we have in the state to fill the vacuum of JOHESU in UPTH and also do their work?”
Dr. Mbata also said that the strike will be suspended if the federal government releases the enabling circular.
Meanwhile, in his reaction, the state branch secretary of the Nigeria Red cross society, Rowland Ayotamuno, assuaged the fears of JOHESU, stressing that Red cross is not taking over their job.
He noted that Red Cross point of call at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching
Hospital is to save lives and offer voluntary services.
Rowland Ayotamuno further said that Internationally, Red Cross is known to relieve human sufferings, reduce vulnerability and offer free health community care.
“Our response and services at UPTH is not for pay, it’s purely free services to save lives and that is what Red Cross stands for. It is not to achieve any benefit or any political ambition, but to save the lives of those who are vulnerable”
