– Threaten Strike Action in Solidarity with Doctors
INTRIGUES surrounding the dismissal of striking medical doctors in the employment of the Lagos State government took a new turn on Friday, as the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers threatened to embark on a solidarity strike if the state government fails to recall the sacked doctors.
At a press conference convened in Lagos, Mr. Igwe Achese, who is the National President of the Union told journalists that the Lagos state government must allow reason to prevail by negotiating with the doctors on their demands with a view to arriving at a compromise, prevailing on both parties to resume negotiations.
He said that his Union is calling on the Lagos State government to recall the sacked doctors, saying that “if the issue persists unresolved by Monday next week, NUPENG may be forced to embark on a solidarity strike action until the sacked doctors are recalled to save the lives of Nigerians in Lagos.”
Mr. Achese pointed out that the inexperienced doctors that were employed by the government are not adequate and properly equipped to treat the patients.
The appeal by NUPENG is coming as doctors in the south-west have said that they will embark on a strike action on Tuesday to compel the Lagos State Government to recall the sacked 788 doctors.
According to Dr. Edamisan Temiye, Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association, doctors in the region decided to join the strike because of the recalcitrant attitude of the state government to recall the sacked doctors back to work.
Temiye said the government had continued to maintain a stand that did not allow “us to negotiate well. When your workers protest, you look into it.”
He stated that the hospitals in Lagos State had been grounded ever since the government decided to sack the doctors, saying that the story of recruitment of new doctors was all a fluke and propaganda.
The NMA chairman added that some of the doctors who wanted to work with the government had stayed away as a result of the NMA’s warning.
According to him, the medical profession is not one that “you just get new doctors who just finished service and recruit them.
“Medical practice is aprehentiship; medicine is an involving profession, you learn on the job from the experienced doctors.”
The Lagos State Government had recently 788 doctors under its eemploy for embarking on strike and refusing to answer the queries issued to them.
The sacked doctors, under the aegis of Medical Guild had gone to court to challenge the government’s decision to sack them.
Also, federal doctors in Lagos State have already joined the solidarity strike to persuade the government to recall the sacked doctors.
- Additional report from ChannelsTV