Strike: Lagos threatens, appeals to doctors

The Lagos State Government has appealed to doctors in the service of the state to disassociate themselves from any planned strike action by the Nigeria Medical Association or any other organization in the overall interests of the people of Lagos State and their medical ethics.
The state government also said it would not hesitate to deal with any doctor that proceeds on strike after its appeal.
The State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lateef Ibirogba, who disclosed this on Friday in his office, noted that any industrial action by doctors would bring untold hardship to the people and could result in avoidable deaths of patients who would require their services.
Ibirogba said that the nature of the work of doctors does not permit them to embark on industrial disputes without recourse to its implication on the society.
He said: “Workers in the health sector are statutorily classified as offering ‘essential services’ and there are laid down process and procedures before embarking on such action.”
Recounting the negative implication of such strikes in the past, Ibirogba said illegal strikes had in the past caused untold sufferings, injury and death to innocent patients who were abandoned without any warning.
He said the State Government will not hesitate to apply the law to its fullest on erring officers in order to protect the interest of innocent citizens.
He believes that since the Lagos State Government has no dispute declared against it by its employees, whatever the NMA has against the Federal Government should not be extended to Lagos State.
He admonished that the national body should resolve its dispute with the Federal Government without allowing it to affect Lagosians.
Ibirogba explained that Lagos State has an approved pay policy structure, which will be used to review pay structure for workers in the state as internally generated revenue increases, adding that disrupting current wage plan will affect all other professional groups.
He drew the attention of the doctors to Sections 118, 209 and 210 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, which state that it is an offence to maliciously break a contract of service knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the probable consequence of doing so will endanger human life or seriously endanger public health.
The Commissioner noted that the State Government will not hesitate to maintain “a no work no pay” policy for workers who refuse to report at their duty post as at when scheduled.
Ibirogba also stressed that any employee who abandons his duty post without reasonable cause will be taken to have repudiated his contract of employment and will be held fully liable for the consequences of his or her actions.
He posited that the State Government has a duty to ensure that health service delivery to the people is not disrupted, stressing that there should be no reason for disruption of medical service in Lagos State in view of the fact that the Lagos State Government has been implementing infrastructural development and capacity building in its health sector.
He therefore appealed to the doctors to use other means to redeem their demand other than the strike action, as lives lost during the period of industrial actions can never be brought back.