5th July, 2023
By Sunday John
The Nasarawa State Council of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has commenced a five-day warning strike following the expiration of the three-week ultimatum.
On June 13, the association issued a three-week ultimatum regarding member welfare issues.
Dr. Peter Attah, the state NMA Chairman, made the announcement during a press conference in Lafia on Wednesday.
The decision to strike was made at an emergency meeting of the NMA on Tuesday, according to the NMA chairman.
The chairman stated that he informed the congress of a previous meeting with a government delegation led by Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, the Deputy Governor, on two occasions, but that no meaningful commitment was received from the government.
“We meet two times after our ultimatum on June 13, but unfortunately the government is only paying lip service and was not serious about meeting our demands,” he said.
He added that after hearing the updates, the congress unanimously agreed that members should withdraw their services in all the state government-owned facilities from 8:00am on Wednesday, July 5 to 8:00am on Monday, July 10.
“If by Monday July 10, the government still refuses to meet our demands, we will call for a congress meeting and decide on the next line of action,” Dr. Attah added.
The NMA chairman further said that because the association has the interest of the health sector at heart, it decided to allow doctors with Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Keffi continue to render services for now.
“But if the government refuses to resolve the lingering issues by Monday, we may be forced to ask our colleagues in FMC and private facilities to join the strike,” he said.
He listed some of their demands to include: non-implementation of promotions for doctors and annual salary increment for over nine years, non-implementation of N30,000 minimum wage and consequential adjustments.
Others are: non-implementation of the reviewed hazard allowance circular and the accrued 19 months arrears, high burden of taxation, inadequate manpower and overworking.
He said that 25 doctors who were employed in 2014 at Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) Lafia and the State Hospital Management Board were not promoted for nine years now.
According to him, the association had given the state government enough time to address their demands but the government seems insensitive to their plight.
He revealed further that 88 medical doctors left the service of the state in 2023 alone due to poor welfare package.
He explained that the shortage of doctors is putting so much pressure on the few ones who have decided to stay, to the extend that doctors now prefer to work in rural areas than facilities in urban areas.
He explained that the 19 general hospitals in the state have only 33 doctors which he described as grossly inadequate by any standard.
NAN