Contrary to the erroneous impression being created that the strike by
the medical doctors in Lagos State had lingered because of the refusal
of the State Government to negotiate with them, emerging facts have
shown that doctors have consistently spurned all avenues for
negotiation.
According to a Press Statement signed by the Commissioner for
Information and Strategy, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, made available over
the weekend, the strike by the medical doctors has continued up till
now in spite of the personal intervention from the Governor, former
Governors, the State House of Assembly, elder statesmen, Senior
Clergymen, senior medical practitioners and well meaning Lagosians.
The strike which the Commissioner said, has caused undue hardship for
the citizenry is being prolonged because of the Doctors' insistence
that all existing Establishment and Civil Service procedures be set
aside by the Governor by arbitrarily directing a salary increment for
doctors alone to the exclusion of other professional cadres in the
health sector and service wide.
Giving an insight into the genesis of the current stand-off, the
Commissioner said, Lagos State had always enjoyed harmonious labour-
government relations and had resolved amicably several labour
disputes .
Specifically on the doctors, Mr. Bamidele said that the Lagos State
Government in 2009 effected an upward review of salaries of medical
doctors which brought them at par with doctors at the federal level.
Also, as a show of goodwill and in recognition of their peculiar
service, the state government approved allocation of vehicles for
professionals in the health sector including doctors in phases. The
first phase of 100 had been allocated while the delivery of the
vehicles for the second phase is being awaited.
However, when recently the Federal Government without prior
consultation with the other two-tiers of government introduced a
special salary structure, for doctors in its employ , called CONMESS,
some of the associations of doctors in the state especially the
Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) and the Medical Guild, began
agitations for an immediate implementation of same structure in Lagos
State.
This decision of the doctors, the Commissioner said, was without any
consideration for the directive of the national body of the Nigerian
Medical Associations which apart from publishing in a national daily
also wrote to the Governor in a letter dated August 30, 2010
communicating that no state Chapter should threaten or embark on any
strike over CONMESS.
The Commissioner stated that the action of the Medical Guild also took
no cognizance of the fact pertaining to the current revenue sharing
formula which makes it possible for the Federal Government to take 52
percent of the country's revenue leaving the states and local councils
to share 48 percent, any decision taken by the states would have
severe implication for the local government which has responsibility
for wages in other equally important sectors like primary education.
The Commissioner said quite contrary to the wrong impression that
Governor Fashola had been rather aloof in the crisis, the Governor,
apart from numerous meetings he directed to be held with the doctors,
had met with them personally twice. One of the meetings the Governor,
he said , lasted three hours while the other lasted five hours.
According to Mr. Bamidele, it was in the course of one of the meetings
that the Medical Guild and Association of Resident Doctors'
representatives complained about the on-going matter at the Industrial
Court noting their discomfiture with the order of the Judge to return
to work and resume negotiations with the Government which they (the
doctors) had by then breached.
To show good faith and his desire to get the doctors back to work, the
Governor had then immediately directed the State's Attorney-General
and Commissioner for Justice to withdraw the case from Court.
The Commissioner said that in the meetings, Governor Fashola had
consistently appealed to the doctors that while their demand for wages
review was not unreasonable, their was a need to present such demands
to the Committee on the Development of Pay Policy, Review and Salary
Determination in the State Public Service.
The Committee, chaired by the Commissioner for Establishment and
Training, Mr. Jide Sanwoolu, the Government said, is to consider the
issue of personnel emolument statewide in the public service with a
view to permanently addressing perennial wage issues while paying
attention to the peculiarities of each professional cadre.
According to the Commissioner for Information, the Medical Guild has
refused to negotiate with the Committee or make any representation to
it but insisted on the Governor single handedly signing a paper for
them or directing by fiat, a wage increase for the doctors alone.
The statement by Mr. Bamidele, however explained that it is not the
responsibility of the Governor to decide or determine a wage review
for any cadre of staff in the public service adding that the process
involves the Ministry of Establishment and Training, the Public
Service Office, the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, the
Ministry of Finance and the Civil Service Commission whose
recommendation will then go to House of Assembly for the appropriate
legislation.
According to the Commissioner, the Governor has consistently stated
that he would not be coerced or blackmailed into acting in an
arbitrary manner noting that even the intransigence of the doctors and
any interest group trying to make political capital out of the
unfortunate development would not make him violate well established
Public Service rules and the law.
According to the statement, within the health sector alone, it would
be difficult to isolate the doctors for a wage review noting that
other professional cadres in the medical care chain like the
Pharmacists, Nurses, Radiologists and Laboratory Technologists have
continued to carry out their duties.
Reiterating that the State Government won't do anything illegal
because of the approaching elections, the Commissioner said Government
is available and ready to negotiate with the doctors adding however
that innocent people must not continue to suffer while negotiation is
going on hence the need to call off the strike immediately.
The statement noted that it was most unfortunate that most of the
doctors currently involved in the strike are doctors training to be
Specialists (Residents), a programme, financed from State resources.
According to the Commissioner, the current situation becomes more
unfortunate when it is considered that professionals in the other
sectors where the Federal Government arbitrarily introduced
specialized pay structures like CONMESS have continued to work while
negotiations with Government continued.
The statement noted that rather than blame the Lagos State Government
for not negotiating with the doctors as being mischievously projected,
all men of goodwill should prevail on the Medical Guild and
Association of Resident Doctors to call off the strike forthwith and
resume negotiation with the Government in the interest of the good
people of Lagos State and the Hippocratic Oath they took as care
givers.
HAKEEM BELLO
SSA TO H.E ON MEDIA
NOVEMBER 06, 2010
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