By Tony Edike

ENUGU – PATIENTS who visited the three Federal Government-owned health institutions in Enugu, yesterday, for medication were  turned back following a one week sympathy strike embarked upon by medical  doctors.

Ironically, some of the doctors who reported for duties yesterday morning were prevented from rendering  services by officials of Enugu State chapter of   Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, who went round to enforce the strike order.

The industrial action was ordered by the national leadership of NMA to enable doctors in the federal health institutions  sympathise with their colleagues in Enugu State government-owned hospitals who had been on strike since December 1, last year.

The affected health institutions are the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital,UNTH,  National Orthopaedic Hospital  and Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, all located in the state.

Medical doctors in the state-owned hospitals proceeded on strike on December 1, following the inability of the state government to implement the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, CONMESS.

Meanwhile, dental practitioners on the payroll of the state government, who had earlier refused to embark on indefinite strike, have also decided to down tools after a 21-day ultimatum issued the state government elapsed.
The National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners, NAGGMDP, Enugu State branch, said it was now obliged to join the strike.

The state NAGGMDP Chairman, Dr. John Chukwuani, said yesterday that the action became necessary  because the state government had notified them that they would no longer be paid, with effect from February 2011.

He said: “The complimentary staff that we should be working with have been on strike for about two weeks now. Even at that, we have been coming to work, but we eventually can’t do anything because the doors leading to the pharmacy, the store and laboratories are usually under lock.

“The situation became worse when the government wrote to us that they were stopping our salary with effect from February 2011, which contravenes the labour law. The labour law says that salary of workers who embark on a legal strike can only be stopped after 90 days if they fail to call it off.”

Chukwuani further stated that the  NMA, which ordered the strike, was an umbrella body for all health institutions in Enugu, saying “if the court could stop them (NMA) then we would automatically be stopped.”