Governor
Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has described the ongoing nationwide
warning strike by the Nigerian Medical Association as provocative,
illegal, avoidable and unnecessary.
The governor also said that any doctor that joined the strike in the state would not be paid.
Oshiomhole said this on Thursday at a
meeting with the Association of Resident Doctors and Medical and Dental
Consultants Association in Government House, Benin.
The governor said, “There is nothing in
the convention or the law that allows you to simply walk out on your
job. The fact that your colleagues under federal employment had dispute
and they sought meeting with the minister of health, those are meetings
between your colleagues and the Federal Government. How is Edo State a
part of that?
“I expect that if you feel obliged to go
on that strike, I think you should inform us that the strike is
inevitable. I do understand the logic and essence of solidarity, but in
this business, before you resort to solidarity action, people who are
themselves directly involved in the dispute may choose on their own to
first go on strike.
“If after sometime you feel that no one
is listening and there is a need to reinforce by way of solidarity,
subject to the rule of law, then you can decide to go on a secondary
action.
“I am not aware that you can go on strike the same day as those who are directly affected.”
The governor who argued that if
solidarity was the basis of participation by doctors under the
employment of the state, wondered why doctors in private practice not
part of the action.
“I am unable to resist the conclusion
that the strike is designed to enrich those at the private practice by
shutting down public hospitals so that those who are sick will have no
choice but to go to private clinics where some of your members on strike
go to work.
“And to think that anyone would do this,
such that those who cannot afford private health care are now left to
die, is a gross abuse of your skills.
“It borders on blackmail on the entire
system and holds all of us to ransom. When a doctor no longer bothers
about the life of a patient, that is the beginning of the end.
“In Edo State, we will not submit to
this blackmail. You are doing essential services because of the nature
of your work, you are not expected to go on strike. Let us realise that
beyond naira and kobo, there is life.”
Responding, on behalf of the
delegation, Dr. Eghe Abe, said the association would convene for a
dispassionate consideration of the governor’s address and what is in the
interest of the state.”
Meanwhile, the strike has continued to
have serious impact on patients in many hospitals visited by our
correspondents. Also the News Agency of Nigeria reported that
medical doctors at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital,
Ile-Ife, Osun, on Thursday joined the five-day warning strike called by
the national body of the NMA.
Correspondents of the NAN who visited the hospital reported that the action had paralysed health care services.
Pharmacists, nurses and other health workers, however, performed skeletal functions.
Patients were not discharged from various wards in the hospital due to the strike, but new ones were not admitted.
However, doctors in the ear, nose and throat department were seen attending to patients.
PUNCH NG
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