Jayne Whyte's Portfolio

For weeks, the strike has been going on, and i was thinking I could ignore it but its so unfortunate that i can’t ignore it because they say “when two elephants fight the grass suffers”. In this context, the two elephants are the doctors and the Lagos state government, and the grass; the people especially Nigeria women and children in Lagos state. Doctors at the Lagos university Hospital are reportedly discharging patients in preparation to join their colleagues in the employment of Lagos State who were fired en masse last week by that government for going on strike.

In a statement today, the state branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), recalled that at its emergency general meeting on April 25, it supported the strike action embarked upon by the Medical Guild and warned that if any doctor was victimised through sack or otherwise on account of the strike action, it will also join the strike action.

Reviewing the genesis of the crisis, NMA Lagos State lamented that the State Government had failed to honour the Consolidated Medical Salary Scale (CONMESS), which was negotiated with the federal government by doctors to serve as a minimum universal scale of remuneration for all doctors in the country regardless of location or employer, in order to curb internal brain drain.

“For the past one year, the Medical Guild has been writing, meeting and pleading with government to correct the shortfall in implementation of CONMESS,” it said in the statement.  “The government however only chose to shift and default on its promises.” It urged the state government to withdraw the sack letters and all queries issued to its members immediately, pointing out that those actions are totally in breach of labour laws since the warning strike was legitimate and a resumption of the suspended action of 2010/2011.

“Government should instead hasten to ensure implementation of the agreement and demonstrate its good will by promptly paying the appropriate salaries,” NMA Lagos State said.  

Governor Babatunde Fashola fired 788 doctors in one day last week, several days after the doctors embarked on an indefinite strike to press for better conditions of service.  The situation has led to tremendous hardship for people throughout the state seeking medical service.(culled from Sahara Reporters)  

The Doctors are demanding for a higher pay, comparing their pay to that of the politicians (who earn much more than they do) and the Lagos state government is not ready to heed to their demand. Women and children are dying as a result of the greed of the politicians and the medical doctors. The private hospitals are not cheaper and the health commodities are not cheaper either. Imagine a case of an emergency, and the person involved cannot afford to pay the bills of the private hospital, so what happens…..most times death!.

I hope they come to some form of agreement. The earlier, the better for the lives of women and children.