The National Assembly has said that plans are underway to compensate families of deceased health workers who died from covid-19 complications on the line of duties.
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Health Services, Tanko Sununu who made this known this became imperative so that the deceased families are neglected.
Hon. Sununu who disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the National Headquarters of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) in Abuja, said the House has constituted a committee to work out the modalities to guaranteed the deceased families.
According to him, “NASS are not unmindful of our health workers in the frontline who paid the ultimate price. This is why we are working out a plan to compensate deceased families.
“A committee has been set up. We will call for a public hearing where the strategy and method to be used in disbursing the compensations will be agreed on.
“The families of the deceased will be located and we must ensure the money reaches them”.
The lawmaker further advised the workers to always exploit other means to resolve disputes rather than strike, considering the number of lives at risk when such happened.
According to him, a committee has been set up to interface with all workers on all pending issues concerning the payment and welfare of health workers.
“We aim to ensure there is no disharmony anymore in the health sector. We are reaching out to major stakeholders and negotiating their demands to ensure health workers continue with their work with no hitches or grievances”.
National president of MHWUN, Comrade Biobelemoye Joy Josiah urge the government to ensure the payment of salaries of his members owed in Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, and others for exposing corrupt activities of the chief executive.
He said the issues are ticking time bomb that should not be allowed to detonate.
The union leader also called for more funding to the health sector to avert the challenges the workers go through, especially as the world battle with the covid-19 pandemic.
“The government invited us to blow whistles, to support the fight against corruption, we went into it, and as we speak, several of our members have been denied salaries for months, although, there is a beamer of hope, because in the last meeting of the 8 June, in the office of the minister of Labour, the minister pointedly announced and made it clear that government has decided to reconsider and that they would be paying all withheld salaries after they get some relief due to the covid-19 issues, that they would pay the withheld salaries.
“But by and large, by the training, we have gone through and the passion we have for our Job, coupled with the compassion for the Nigerian people knowing that it is only the public health institution that has the cheapest institutions that we have, we are still bearing all the pains, but we are appealing through this medium, that the executive site should quickly look into this matter because they are ticking time bomb and they should not allow them to be detonated before they come to rescue