By VINCENT UJUMADU
AWKA — HEALTH care services in Anambra State have been crippled, following a month warning strike embarked upon by medical doctors in the state to press home their demand for full implementation of the federal government-approved Consolidated Medical Salary Scale, CONMESS, for doctors.

Patients, who were unaware of the development, were taken aback when there were no doctors to attend to them.

The state chairman of Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Dr. Emmanuel Ekwosianya, said at a news conference at Nnewi at the weekend that doctors in the state would not accept anything less than the federally-negotiated salary scale for doctors.

According to Ekwosianya, the state government has not shown any serious commitment in negotiating with the association.

He added that when the national executive of NMA wrote to the state governors about the new salary scale which took effect in January, 2010, the governor of Anambra State never replied to the letter or did anything about the new salary scale.

He said that when the state government eventually named its representative, he pleaded with the doctors to wait because the state had no money to pay the new salary scale.

According to him, the association and the government agreed to set up a committee to negotiate, but regretted that government only appointed a representative when the strike became inevitable.

He said: “To show that we are handling the matter peacefully, we notified the state government and on 9th January, I called a meeting of NMA in Anambra state with the Commissioner of Health, Professor Amobu Ilika in attendance.

“He again pleaded that we give government one month and unfortunately the committee could not be formed until last Friday after the NMA ultimatum had expired.”

He said that even when the committee met, there was no concrete commitment by government, adding that the Head of Service who is representing the government still pleaded with the doctors to exercise patience because, according to him, government has no money to pay yet.

Ekwosianya said it was then that it became obligatory for doctors to proceed on strike as the NMA could no longer allow itself to be dribbled further, insisting that every allowance, including the arrears of the CONMESS, must be paid to the doctors.