Enugu approves salary increase for health workers

Yesterday, health professionals and workers in Enugu State, under the auspices of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), went wild with jubilation as Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi announced a raise to the increase in their consolidated health salary structure (CONHESS) from 41% to 60%, effective from September 2021, despite the country’s economic, security and public health challenges.

Governor Ugwuanyi made the announcement when addressing a JOHESU delegation comprised of members of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives of Nigeria (NANNM), the Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP) and of the Medical and Health Workers Sector Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Government House, Enugu.

Members of JOHESU were at Government House, Enugu for a visit of thanks to Ugwuanyi for his caring and unwavering commitment to the welfare of state health workers.

Delivering their speech, JOHESU State Chairman Comrade Ezekiel Omeh told Governor Ugwuanyi that, “We are very grateful to Almighty God who has chosen you, Your Excellency, to actualize the implementation of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) for Health Professionals and Workers in Enugu State”.

Omeh revealed that “CONHESS is a dream that has eluded us for the past 11 years but which you (Ugwuanyi) achieved in the month of May 2021. “We thank you and salute your political wisdom to be used as a vehicle to actualize the God’s will. will be. We appreciate your kind heart and your show of love.”

Speaking further, the President of JOHESU said, “Your Excellency, we are pleased that today you have placed us on par with our peers and contemporaries in the healthcare industry who are benefiting from the CONHESS which is the salary scale operational in the country since 2010 .

“We are aware that in earlier times before you took over as Governor, the economy was good enough to implement CONHESS for us, but our fussing over it later resulted in giving us more pain than relief.

“To ease the situation, Your Excellency approved 10% of CONHESS in 2018 and in 2021 you approved another 31%, making a total of 41% of CONHESS.

“You also gave us a COVID-19 stipend that lasted over a year when other states, including the federal government, withdrew the payment.

“We also appreciate your aggressive investment in the health sector in Enugu State. To name a few, we are impressed and grateful with the transformation of Poly Clinic Asata into a general hospital, from the center of Uwani Health into General Hospital, Renovation and Reconstruction of Udi General Hospital, Awgu General Hospital and Awgu School of Midwifery, Reconstruction and Renovation of the Nsukka General Hospital, Enugu-Ezike General Hospital, phenomenal progress in the construction of the permanent site of ESUT Teaching Hospital in Igbo-Eno and the construction of new general hospitals in different local governments of the ‘State that are ready to be put into service.

According to him, these and other people-oriented projects are taking place simultaneously in the state, all for the betterment of the health and well-being of citizens despite the escalating difficult economic conditions and social unrest in the state. the country.

Omeh added, “You have demonstrated how a democratic government can be run with the full participation of citizens, including workers. Hence our ability to have the minimum wage approved and implemented by CONHESS and its adjustment, the COVID-19 allowance, the 13th month salary throughout the dialogue and your demonstration of understanding, transparency and prioritizing the welfare of workers and citizens.

“We appreciate your responsiveness to the aspirations of people, especially workers. Your willingness to govern Enugu State with the fear of God and the rule of law has made this state the most relatively peaceful state in the country and the South East in particular.

In their remarks, the State Chairman of the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) and the Nigerian Trades Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Virginus Nwobodo and Comrade Benneth Asogwa respectively, endorsed the speech of the JOHESU leadership, emphasizing that workers in Enugu State deeply appreciate all that Governor Ugwuanyi is doing for the people of the state “in this time of scarcity and economic collapse”.