Lagos Govt Queries Doctors Over Strike

The Lagos State Government has issued queries to all doctors who embarked on a three-day warning strike last week.

The government has also begun the process of recruiting new doctors and has already advertised several positions in the newspaper, an action that has engendered fears that it might sack the current doctors if they made good their treat to embark on total strike by the end of this month if their demands were not met. The government wanted to know the rationale behind the three-day warning strike embarked upon by the doctors. They are demanding for proper implementation of a downward review of excessive taxation and the Consolidated Medical Salary Scale Structure, CONMESS.

Chairman, Medical Guild, Dr Olumuyiwa Odusote disclosed to P.M.NEWS on Monday that the government had actually served the doctors who went on strike queries to explain the rationale behind their action.

He said the Medical Guild would answer the queries on behalf of its members and that no individual doctor would answer the query, describing the action as unfair and unjust.

On whether the doctors would embark on total strike at the end of this month, Odutsote said it was left for the congress to decide that, but added that the doctors would explore the option of dialogue with the government to resolve the crisis on ground.

Meanwhile, in what has been construed as plans by the government to sack the doctors, it has placed an advert in newspapers to recruit new doctors.

The Lagos State Health Service Commission and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH came up with the advert and the government is advertising the positions of medical officers, consultants/specialists.

On whether the guild was not bothered about this action, Odutsote said it was good that government recruit new doctors to reduce the burden on them, saying that if it was on the basis of trying to sack the doctors, it would not work.

He said during the last strike, the government recruited new doctors to break their rank and file but that the new doctors ended up joining the strike, adding that such would happen again if the government decided to lay them off. Last week, the doctors embarked on three days warning strike, while public hospitals in the Lagos metropolis were partially crippled by the strike.

The state government had frowned at the action of the doctors, describing it as unjust and cruel and vowed that it would adopt the no-work-no pay option if the doctors should go on strike.

A circular from the Lagos State Head of Service, Adesegun Ogunlewe had said the government would invoke section 43 (1) of the Trade Disputes Acts to ensure that the doctors did not receive any salary throughout the period of the strike.

Section 43 (1) which the government wanted to enforce on the doctors read: “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in any other Law where any worker takes part in a strike, he shall not be entitled to any wages or other remuneration for the period of the strike and any such period shall not count for the purpose of reckoning the period of continuous employment and all rights dependent on continuity of employment shall be prejudicially affected accordingly.”

Ogunlewe also said that in accordance with section 41 (1) and 42 (1) of the Trade Dispute Act, the doctors ought to have given the government 15 days notice before withdrawing their services from the people, saying breaching such conduct is punishable with imprisonment.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga