By Sola Ogundipe, Chioma Obinna & Olayinka Latona
Doctors under the auspices of the Medical Guild (MG), a representative organ of all doctors in the service of Lagos State, have accused the government of being insensitive to their plight.

Yesterday, they joined an indefinite strike to press home demands for payment of the Consolidated Medical Salary Scale (CONMESS) and other allowances to all doctors in the state.
However, in swift reaction, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, dismissed the allegation of insensitivity as “a blatant lie.”

The doctors commenced the strike following the expiration of an alleged one-week ultimatum to the government. They claimed that all efforts to actively engage the government via dialogue, letters and persuasion to avert the crisis currently sweeping across hospitals in the state proved abortive.

Doctors’ demand

They said they would not return to work unless their demands which include payment of the CONMESS and other professional allowances were met.

Other demands include: immediate payment of all arrears from January 2010, withdrawal of all court processes against the doctors, and ensuring that no member of the Guild was victimised because of the strike.

With the strike, several patients in Lagos State-owned hospitals may suffer unnecessarily or even lose their lives if the state government fails to urgently meet the demands of doctors under their employment.

Commissioner responds

Idris denied allegations that the government made dialogue impossible, saying the Ministry had been discussing with the doctors in the last two weeks.

He said: “We have been discussing for two weeks with the committee put together by the state government to look into the matter. Their action is strange.

“However, we will continue to dialogue but to say they issued one-week ultimatum is totally false. We have had three meetings. They were all at the meetings.

“Another person that was at the meeting was the Head of Service. Commissioner for Budget also met with them.”

He advised patients not to panic as the government was doing all it could to resolve the problem. “In the meantime, emergency services will be attended to and doctors who are not participating in the strike have promised to be on duty. Patients will be attended to.”

Members of the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD joined the strike in solidarity last Monday. According to the National President of NARD, Dr. Olayinka Atilola, the nationwide one-week solidarity strike, would end today.

Atilola, who however, described the level of restiveness and propensity for strike in the health sector as worrisome, urged open-minded and all-inclusive dialogue among alln stakeholders, to resolve the logjam.