Lagos To Hire New Doctors

Following the strike by doctors in Lagos public hospitals, the Lagos State government has concluded  arrangements to recruit ad-hoc doctors to man the hospitals pending when the striking doctors call off  their industrial action.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris said yesterday that the government is working with doctors in  private hospitals to ensure that activities in government-owned hospitals were not totally paralysed,  just as he assured that activities in medical and surgical emergency were not grounded.

The commissioner appealed to the striking doctors, under the aegis of  the Medical Guild, to call off   their strike, noting that the action was unnecessary as the state government had just approved an  improved remuneration package for the guild.

Idris, who made the plea on Monday when he visited the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital,  LASUTH, to assess the situation occasioned by the strike, urged the doctors to dialogue with  government on areas of disagreement they might have with the improved remuneration package, stressing  that the government was willing and ready to look into it.

“It is unfortunate that our colleagues have decided to embark on yet another strike action despite the  state government’s recent approval of a new salary structure. Whatever it is that they are not happy  with, government said it will look into it,” he said.

Meanwhile, the ongoing strike by doctors in Lagos State General Hospitals and public health facilities  has paralysed activities in the hospitals as thousands of patients are now stranded in the hospitals.

The Medical Guild embarked on the strike on Friday. The doctors want the inability of the government  to implement the Consolidated Medical Salary Scale, CONMESS.

At the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja, yesterday, the effect of the strike  could be felt as doctors did not resume for work while thousands of patients were unattended to by  doctors.

Many of the patients were bitter that the doctors had begun another strike and appealed to the  government to do something urgent to nip the strike in the bud.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga