A new study has shown that poor staff welfare is the leading cause of strikes in Nigeria’s health sector.
healthnews.africa has extensively reported strike actions across Nigeria and how they are crippling healthcare services in the country. A newly published study is putting the strike into perspective and is revealing the views of Nigerian doctors on what is responsible for the incessant strike actions.
According to a study published this week in the journal Human Resources for Health, the researchers asked doctors that attended the West African College of Physicians (WACP)/Royal College of Physicians (RCP) Millennium Development Goal 6 Partnership for African Clinical Training (M-PACT) course.
The results showed poor staff welfare was cited by 16.7% as the commonest cause of strikes in the healthcare system. Other causes cited were salary issues (13.9%), leadership and management (13.9%), poor hospital infrastructure (11.1%), poor guidelines and services (11.1% each) and inter-professional disputes (5.6%).
“Poor staff welfare, salary and leadership/management and governmental inability to implement agreements were the common causes of healthcare worker strikes in this study,” the researchers reported.
They noted that the strikes resulted in disruption to service delivery and training programmes, increased morbidity and mortality of patients and loss of confidence in the hospitals and the healthcare professions.
To avert future strikes the study recommended that the Federal Government should respect agreements made with the management of healthcare institutions, implements the National Health Act and ensures that only leaders and managers who are formally trained are appointed to healthcare management positions.
The study also enjoined the government to to ensure that salaries and financial remuneration are fair and paid on time, improve the work environment by providing necessary work tools and equipment and improve the welfare of staff, especially those working in difficult environments. The Government should also standardize training programmes in all institutions.
“Although the Government has a significant role to play, physicians who lead must lead well, ensuring that they acquire the right set of skills and competencies in leadership through formal and tailored health policy, leadership and management training, and manage the healthcare system dispassionately with fairness. Nigerian medical professionals must all work together to minimize the disruption to healthcare service delivery, with the attendant morbidity and mortality. Improvement of institutional, professional and healthcare outcomes can only be brought about in a spirit of collaboration. This will help rebuild the lost confidence of the people in the healthcare system and improve community health,” the paper concluded.
Read thee full paper below:
Healthcare workers’ industrial action in Nigeria