Striking Lagos doctors to face panel today

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.”