Doctors Calls off strike, resume action January

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has alerted the nation that it may embark on an indefinite strike action, that will paralyse the entire medical services in the country, to press home its demands, come January 2014.

The association was not happy that despite its just called-off five-day warning strike action, the government was yet to attend to the agitation of its members.

The doctors however said they were putting off the industrial action, in the spirit of the Yuletide, but were quick to add that it was a warning to a total strike action, that will occur in the first month of the New Year, if their needs are not met. In a press statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, the President of the NMA, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, stated that the doctors’ body had on September 2, 2013 issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government in which the association highlighted several issues bordering on the health sector which include: Absence of a regulatory environment for practice in the healthcare sector, workplace situation, conditions of service and funding of healthcare in Nigeria.

The statement further reads: “It is most distressing to note that aside from the reconstitution and inauguration of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and other health regulatory councils, none of the other issues contained in the ultimatum were given the deserved attention”.

It added that: “In appreciation of the possible impact of withdrawal of services by medical and dental practitioners in Nigeria, the NMA shifted her ultimatum three times with four weeks apart, hoping and praying hard for government to reciprocally respond and address the issues brought before her with a note of finality”.

Some of the issues at stake are: “Serial injustices done to doctors, particularly during the harmonisation of salary structures in 1998/99 by the Federal Government and failure to correct fundamental errors in the existing salary structure for doctors.

“The gross failure of government to address the serial injustices done to doctors, has led to the unacceptable reduction in the income and allowances of doctors with each level of promotion gained by doctors.

This strange phenomenon unknown to labour laws has over time contributed significantly to the high level of brain drain of highly qualified Nigerian trained medical and dental practitioners to other countries where their services are better appreciated. “More disheartening is the fact that, as we try to get government to redress the previous injustices, further attempts are made to create more injustices and escalate the crisis.”

mydailynewswatchng.com