Health unions picket health ministry today

The Joint Health Sector Unions have announced plans to picket the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on Wednesday, as part of efforts to press home their demands.

The National Secretary of JOHESU, Martin Egbanubi, disclosed this in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Wednesday.

The action comes amid an ongoing indefinite nationwide strike by JOHESU and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations, which began on November 15, 2025, following what the unions described as prolonged neglect of critical issues affecting health workers.

The unions faulted the Federal Government’s persistent failure to implement the adjusted Consolidated Health Salary Structure, as well as address long-standing welfare and systemic challenges confronting health workers across the country.

JOHESU is an umbrella body representing several health sector unions, including the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions.

Speaking on the planned picketing, Egbanubi said members of the union from various hospitals had already converged at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

“We are picketing the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare today. Our members from different hospitals are already at the ministry,” he said.

He explained that the union had held two meetings with representatives of the Federal Government since the commencement of the strike, but both engagements ended without resolution.

“Since we started the strike, we have met with the Federal Government twice, but the meetings ended in deadlock. Since then, the government has not taken any concrete action,” Egbanubi added.

According to him, the picketing is a legitimate component of industrial action aimed at drawing attention to the union’s grievances.

“Picketing is part of industrial action. While we are on strike, we are also picketing to give effectiveness to the strike effective. It is all part of the industrial action,” he noted.

The ongoing strike has continued to disrupt services in public health institutions across the country, raising concerns among patients.