Doctors' strike - FG, NMA disagree

The Federal Government has expressed its disapproval of the strike action embarked upon by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), asking its members to resume work.



Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu, while briefing reporters Saturday in Abuja, said government has met all the demands of the association.

He said: "The Federal Government held a meeting with the association on June 25, 2014. Both the government and the NMA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which addressed all the 24 issues presented by the NMA."

He dismissed the 24 demands as baseless issues that could have been settled administratively.

"To be sure, almost all the issues in contention were either issues that had been satisfactorily resolved or issues that could be treated merely through administrative mechanism," he said.

He said: "Despite reneging on the MoU, the government immediately invited the NMA to series of meetings on July 1, 2014, yet this could not dissuade the NMA. Another meeting that was planned for July 2, 2014 was aborted when the NMA officials failed to show up, but they later showed up on July 3."

The minister pointed out that at the end of the meeting, which lasted 10 hours, another MoU was signed. "As I speak to you, the government has met its own side of the MoU and it is expected that the members of the NMA would from today begin to respond and attend to all emergency cases in public hospitals in the spirit of this."

He noted that it was expected that the group would end its strike action before another scheduled meeting tomorrow.

Chukwu said: "While the action of the NMA is regrettable, government is doing everything possible to mitigate the effects on Nigerians. I must cease this opportunity to once again appeal to all health professionals in public hospitals to avail themselves of the platform which has been provided by President Jonathan through his Presidential Committee of Experts on Inter-Professional Relationship in the Public Health Sector to present their grievances and await a comprehensive redress of same by the committee."

The NMA has, however, promised to return to work immediately if the Federal Government meets its minimal achievable demands. The association had made 24 demands that must be met before it calls of the industrial action.

President of NMA, Dr. Kayode Obembe, told The Guardian in a telephone interview that the association has been holding series of meetings with the Federal Government represented by the Secretary General of the Federation (SGF), Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Wages and Salary Commission and the Ministry of Health.

Obembe said the NMA will call off the strike immediately the Federal Government guarantees its newly adopted minimal achievable demands, which include: continuation of the circular creating five offices of the Deputy Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (DCMAC) in teaching hospitals for medical doctors; the Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) of teaching hospitals must be medical doctors; and removing the title of consultants from other health workers.

Obembe said: "I can also tell you that that effort is already ongoing now. We are hoping that it will yield the necessary result within the next few hours. Nobody is happy that the hospitals will be closed down. It could be you; it could be me that will need the doctors' attention. Nobody is excluded. Even we doctors are not excluded. The idea is not to go and be doing palliative measures while the strike continues. The idea is to totally find a way of putting stoppage to the strike and that is by acceding to doctors' demands."

Other health workers had condemned the threat by the NMA to go on strike even as they vowed to "immediately proceed to the appropriate arbitration courts to seek judicial redress, if government proceeds to dialogue with any unlawful group in trade disputes from now on in the health sector." They had also urged government to ignore the doctors' threats.

The Guardian reliably gathered that the fresh imbroglio started following the Federal Government's concession to the demands of other health workers that resulted in an increase in their salaries.

Top on the list of contending issues include: the Memorandum of Understanding and agreements JOHESU had with the Federal Government at their recent parley on June 5, 2014; approval of consultancy status for other members of the health team; who should be the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of hospitals; call for the office of Surgeon General; restoration of relativity in the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) for health workers and Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for medical doctors, among others.

Obembe had told The Guardian: "Our main reason is that we want to sanitise patients' care in Nigeria. The lives of our patients are endangered. The structure is that a patient is assigned to a consultant who is a medical doctor in a specialty in medicine. The consultant could be a cardiologist, a nephrologist, an orthopaedic surgeon and so on. But now, the other health workers are struggling for the ownership or rather care of the patient with the consultant. The medical laboratory scientists are fighting the pathologists for the headship of the laboratory. The pharmacists want to prescribe and at the same time dispense drugs.

"This is unacceptable. We have kept quiet for so long. We have given the Federal Government enough time to address the issue. We agreed to suspend the strike last December for government to do the right thing. If we don't act now, there is bound to be anarchy. It will lead to the total collapse of the health sector."

Obembe denied insinuations that the doctors went on strike because of selfish demands.

Meanwhile, reacting to the ongoing nationwide strike embarked on by medical doctors, the chairman of Senior Staff Association of Teaching Hospital, Research Institutions and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI) LUTH Branch, comrade Adegoke M. Kehinde, described the action as uncalled for, urging doctors to desist from playing with lives.

"They should allow government to do what they are doing; NMA is not an employer of labour and they have no right to determine what government should give to other health workers. Health practice is teamwork and when a patient comes to the hospital, he/she is not coming to see the doctor; he's coming to access health facility. I see the setting as a football pitch; every member of the team has a role to play and the captain of the team can be from any of the departments," he said.

According to Adegoke, the current problem in the health sector could be traced back to 1885, when the then Health Minister, Olukoye Ransome-Kuti, during the Babangida regime, introduced Decree 10.

"Prior to that, every professional in the sector come in on Grade Level 8. In Nigeria, the issue of creation of separate salary structure for various professional groups started that period; it was Olukoye that created a separate medical alary structure for the doctors. In fact, that was what led to ASUU also demanding a separate salary structure at that time. I believe what government is doing now is in the right direction; trying to harmonise relationship and operations in the health sector."