Lagos, doctors face-off deepens

PLAN by doctors in Lagos State public hospitals to begin indefinite strike at the month's end may come to pass as there were indications yesterday that all attempts by both parties to peacefully resolve their face-off might have broken down.And beginning from 10.00 a.m. today, about 1,000 doctors, under the aegis of Medical Guild in Lagos, will storm the Personnel Management Board (PMB), a disciplinary committee of the Lagos State Health Service Commission, in protest of summons issued to some members over the last three-day warning strike.Fillers are that the doctors have also planned to ground healthcare services in the state by resuming at the PMB everyday for as long as the disciplinary committee sitting lasts. This action, according to them, is in defense of their members handpicked to face persecution.Their employer, the state government, last week issued queries to doctors who participated in the warning strike as it also placed advertisement in the national dailies to engage new doctors. The government wanted to know the rationale behind the warning strike by the doctors, as it alleged sabotage. The doctors had demanded for proper implementation of a downward review of excessive taxation and the Consolidated Medical Salary Scale Structure (CONMESS)..Chairman of the Guild, Dr. Olumuyiwa Odusote, told The Guardian that none of the doctors answered the queries as agreed by the Guild, hence the ensuing letters of summon to the PMB. He said despite the fact that the doctors suspended the warning strike, they had not been contacted for dialogue by their employer, rather, they had been issued several queries that were not answered.Odusote declared that only a few selected members could not be called to face a disciplinary panel over a labour union's activity.'Our members have been summoned to PMB, in preparation for dismissal. So, all of us are going there. We are going to sit at the PMB for as long as their meeting holds. Even if it is for 30 days, we will all be there with them', he said.Odusote alleged that the government's action was an attempt to lure doctors into an indefinite strike and government should be held responsible for the outcome.'We as doctors are not intending to go on strike. But if it happens, it is not the making of the doctors but that of the government', he said.The doctors had embarked on several months of industrial action since 2010, in protest of the non-implementation of the Federal Government's uniform salary structure (CONMESS) for all doctors across the federation.
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