Partial strike by medical doctors, started on Monday, March 16 in Lagos State may blow up into a total shutdown of all medical services.
The doctors had embarked partial strike since the last Monday, March 16, but continued to offer critical services for emergency and serious health cases.
The main reason of the strike is ignoring from the side of the Lagos State Government resolving the medical sphere crisis in the area.
That protest’s prospect was released during the weekend, on March 22 by the Lagos Medical Guild.
In their statement protesters noted that partial strike might culminate in a total shutdown of all public hospitals.
The Medical Guild also pointed out that its members’ past strikes resulted from being shunned by Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, adding that the governor even now continued with his attitude of shunning their request for discussions.
Medical sources accused the governor of repeating his boast that his families do not use the public hospitals, thereby taunting them to continue their strike for as long as they wished.
Besides, medical sources accused the governor of repeating his boast that his families do not use the public hospitals, thereby taunting them to continue their strike for as long as they wished.
The press statement issued by the striking doctors has such points, among the others:
– The continued appointment of doctors as casual (contract) workers, while stating in clear terms, that all non-doctors currently on contract appointments would have their appointments converted to permanent ones, and there would be no more appointments of non-doctors on contract.
– Non-resolution of the discriminatory application of the state’s ‘no work, no pay’ policy to members of the Medical Guild only in the period between April and May 2012 and September 2014.
The Guild has directed that during this action, emergency care and services to the critically ill be provided.
It would be recalled that the state government had declared the current strike action, which enters day six today, as illegal, ordering the doctors to return to work immediately.
The current strike was embarked upon in protest against the continued appointment of doctors as casual (contract) workers in place of the aborted residency training programme, unpaid arrears for the months of May 2012 and July, August and September 2014 due to the application of the state’s ‘no work, no pay’ policy to members of the Medical Guild.
Secretary of the NMA, Dr. Babajide Saheed said the sympathy strike by NMA was in accordance with the resolution of 30 December 2014 and had been communicated to the appropriate authorities.
Saheed said that the NMA Lagos State would be left with no option than to call all its members in the state on a general withdrawal of services in all institutions in the state (state and federal), after one week of commencement of the Medical Guild’s withdrawal of services.
Chairman of the Medical Guild, Dr. Biyi Kufo alleged that the administration has come up with threats and intimidation, setting up registers for doctors to sign, and constituting monitoring teams made up of mainly junior workers.
