Strike: Lagos govt berates doctors

THE Lagos State government, on Wednesday, berated its doctors for embarking on a warning strike, saying their action was a blackmail aimed at protecting their personal investments in private hospitals in the state.The Special Adviser to the Governor on Information and Strategy, Mr Lateef Raji, who spoke on behalf of the government in an interview with newsmen, described their demands as unfounded, adding that the state government was the first in the country to implement the Consolidated Medical Salary Scale (CONMESS) which the doctors were now complaining about.Raji said the doctors were also demanding that House Officers on grade levels 10 and 12 be paid teaching allowances, a provision which, according to him, was not part of CONMESS. He added, however, that government told them that if they could provide the evidence that it was part of CONMESS provisions, it would pay.'The doctors, from our findings, are just bent on going on strike, probably to protect personal investments in their poorly equipped private hospitals and that is what Lagosians should brace up for,' Raji said.Reiterating that the doctors were bent on going ahead with the strike, in order to protect their personal investments, Raji said the government and people of Lagos would soon see the truth of their action, as the real reasons for the strike would soon unfold.On what the government planned to do to keep the hospitals working while the strike lasted, the governor's aide disclosed that even within the Medical Guild, there were several doctors who were not going to join in the strike, because they were not happy with how the executive of the Guild called the strike.He expressed joy that the government 'has willing hands who are ready to ensure that emergency services in Lagos Hospitals run and that the hospitals function,' while assuring that government would continue to do everything in its power to ensure that the medical facilities across the state were not shut down.He said the government would be ready to meet with the doctors 'when they shelve their recalcitrant position.
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