Lagos
doctors who participated in the three-day warning strike between April
11 and 13 are to appear before the Personnel Management Board of the
state government on Tuesday (today).
The
doctors, under the aegis of Nigerian Medical Guild, had gone on the
strike to press for the implementation of the Consolidated Medical
Salary Scale and the downward review of taxation.
According
to the letter issued by the Chief Medical Directors of the teaching and
general hospitals in the state, the doctors have been invited to
provide explanations for their absence from duty and their failure to
respond to their queries.
Chairman,
Medical Guild, Dr. Olumuyiwa Odusote, who provided our correspondent
with copies of the queries at a news conference in Lagos on Monday said
the government had previously issued three queries to over 1,100 doctors
who took part in the strike.
One of
the letters read, “Further to the queries on absenteeism of April 16 and
April 18, issued to you, you are hereby invited to a PMB meeting on
April 25.”
Odusote, in his reaction
to these queries, accused the government of resorting to threats of
sacking, sanctions and blackmail against members of the Guild who
participated in industrial action.
He noted that issuing queries to over 1,100 doctors in the state could precipitate another strike by the Guild.
Odusote
said, “Instead of the government to initiate moves to resolve the
outstanding issues in the interest of industrial harmony and welfare of
Lagosians, it resorted to threats.
“Doctors’
strike in Lagos is not the first strike in Nigeria. We are fighting for
our rights in a democratic manner. We appeal to Lagosians to intervene
in this victimisation we are facing daily.”
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