…..denies staff who
are pregnant benefits, allowances
Any female staff of the University of Benin
Teaching Hospital (UBTH) who gets pregnant has to either quit the job or keep
working until they deliver. That is the directive that has been in place since
the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Michael Ibadin, took charge of the Federal
Tertiary Health Institution seven years ago.
According to the female workers at the hospital who raised
their concerns about the trend, they have been working under very cruel
conditions when they are pregnant that so many of the expectant staff have
opted to carry their pregnancies to course while still on the job.
"We have been living under hell since Ibadin took over as
CMD. Once you are pregnant it is either you work till you are about to deliver
or take a maternity leave and not get paid," a nurse who gave her name as Odion
said.
With the influence wielded by the CMD the staff has remained
quiet about their working conditions which go against the efforts by the United
Nations Human Rights Commission to ratify the convention on the
elimination of all of forms of discrimination against women.
According to some of the staff, who pleaded for anonymity in
order to safeguard their jobs, since the Ibadin-led management took office
women are asked during job application interviews if they are pregnant and
warned not to get pregnant if they are to enjoy job security. For
pregnant women who come for job interviews, they are told outright on
application that they cannot get a position in the hospital.
"This is not even veiled with any form of propriety or
decorum. This is even buttressed by the fact that women are asked out rightly
if they are pregnant at discussions and warned not to if they are to get in," one nurse said.
For those who have employment with the hospital, when they
get pregnant they are deprived of allowances such as Call duty when they are on
Maternity leave, this is at variance with the provisions of the law on benefits
that should accrue to them. Subsequently some female staff work almost to the
hour of delivery to avoid losing out on the much needed benefits.
"It has gotten worse since the economy recession started. We
now see our expectant colleagues struggling to work even when they are nine
months pregnant. On some occasions we have had to deliver them right here
in the world. It is not fair the way we are being treated. It is not a sin for
a woman to be pregnant. It is so mean that a man is doing this to us; I don’t
think if the CMD is a woman he will give this type of directive," Odion said.
A recent incident involved a female doctor who, out of fear,
insisted on working through her nine months of pregnancy and delivered on a
night she was on duty and even insisted on resuming a few weeks after
parturition just to forestall deductions from her emoluments on the premise and
directive of the chief executive of the hospital.
This situation has led to a situation where female staff of
the hospital who are nursing mothers are no longer able to comply with the
Exclusive breastfeeding regimen as prescribed for babies to enhance mother
-child bonding while ensuring nutrition and health of the baby.
“The observations are far from surprising considering the
fact that the current Chief Medical Director of the hospital was renowned for
threatening students on the "dangers" of pregnancy and how it would
lead to their failure in examinations especially the clinical where he was
examiner and holds the knife and the yam,” a doctor at UBTH said.
When contacted, Prof. Ibadin known for his pro- stance for
government implementing the “No Work No Pay,” refused to comment on the issue.
It seems he may have started implementing the "No Work No
Pay" the policy before it even becomes law with his belief it will
help end impunity in the civil service sector in Nigeria.
With almost every department in the hospital on strike
under his tenure, Ibadin said in March that the reason the strike action
continues is because government was yet to implement the policy.
"This impunity you are witnessing has to do with the fact
that government has not been able to implement no work, no pay. If government
implements no work, no pay, no worker will go on strike," he said.
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