According to Adenekan, the ARD-LUTH, as an affiliate body of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), “has resolved, following an emergency general meeting, to stand totally with our parent body, NMA, by complying fully with its directives on this issue and, therefore, will embark on a nationwide solidarity strike action, which will commence by 08:00 hours on Friday, the 18th of May, 2012."
It would be recalled that the Chairman of the NMA in Lagos State, Dr Edamisan Temiye, had announced that the members of the NMA would embark on strike, following the government's failure to recall the sacked doctors.
Adenekan said the sack of 788 doctors by the Lagos State Government is draconian and that "several efforts by the Chairman of the NMA, Lagos State Branch, Dr. Edamisan Temiye, and the National President of the NMA, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, to amicably resolve this issue and make the LASG revert its position and keep faith with the signed agreement, have so far ended in deadlock, thus leading to the unwarranted and needless losses of lives in the state."
Consequently, he called on the people of Lagos, well meaning Nigerians and the National Assembly to intervene urgently towards the speedy resolution of this impasse and thus, prevent the needless losses of lives of innocent Nigerians.
Adenekan described the sack of the 788 doctors by Fashola and the refusal of the state government to negotiate with the doctors as “a draconian action”, which completely disregarded the rule of law, adding that the solidarity strike by the ARD-LUTH was to show that the actions were unacceptable and should not be allowed to persist.
"The ARD-LUTH, having followed these events closely from the beginning, will like to state that these draconian actions of the Lagos State Government is unacceptable by any standard and, therefore, should not be allowed to persist," he said.
According to him, patients already on admission in LUTH and other federal government hospitals in Lagos State would be attended to and nursed to good health during the strike, emergency units would be locked, clinics would not hold and no new patients would be admitted throughout the period of the indefinite strike.
He implored all members in ARD-LUTH and other affiliate bodies in Lagos State to remain steadfast and resolute in the struggle as the Executive Council continued to work closely with the NMA to ensure a speedy and amicable resolution to the crisis.
Adenekan, who admitted that doctors had sworn an oath to consecrate their lives to the service of humanity, also appealed to the public to support them in their attempts to rejuvenate the medical profession.
"We view the attitude of the state government as an insult to doctors, the medical profession as well as to the patients.
By sacking a total of 788 doctors, the state has succeeded in increasing the doctor-patients ratio to 50,000 to a doctor. We view this as an injustice to doctors,” he said.
In March, 2011, the Lagos State Government approved the implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for all doctors in Lagos State and signed an agreement with the Medical Guild to implement the salary structure.
The Medical Guild is an association of doctors employed by the state government.
More than one year after signing that agreement, the Lagos State Government had failed to implement the agreement fully, prompting the doctors to embark on a warning strike from April 11 to 13.
From the warning strike, the doctors declared an indefinite strike on April 24, which led the state government to sack 788 doctors.
Source:compassnews
