Medical doctors can no longer go on strike, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has declared.

The highest decision-making body for doctors and dentists in the country said sanctions await any doctor that flouts the new directives agreed upon at the last stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja on June 23.

Dr. Roger Makanjuola, Chairman of the Council, told reporters in Abuja at the weekend that doctors could only go on strike in extreme cases.

He noted that certain measures must be put in place before doctors can abandon their duty posts.

Besides, he said before embarking on a strike, permission must be sought from and approval given by the central committee of the MDCN, which has not been the case in previous industrial actions.

Reading a communiqué at the end of the meeting, Makanjuola said: “It is unethical to go on strike. Practitioners must respect the provisions of the Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria as prescribed by the MDCN. Having sworn to the Hippocratic Oath doctors should not go on strike because the oath says, first, the health of my patient shall be my first consideration and secondly that I will maintain the utmost respect for human life.

“These two components of the oath are clearly in conflict with strikes. If we do not intend to abide by the Hippocratic Oath, then we should stop swearing to it,” he said.

Though Makanjuola said doctors could express their grievances when such are genuine, he added that the Medical Code of Ethics allowed medical and dental practitioners to go on strike only in extreme circumstances.

He said: “When such industrial actions occur, the care of our patients is protected. The code stipulates that no patient can be abandoned in the midst of his or her treatment. A striking doctor must make arrangements to hand over the continued care of his patients before he leaves his post.

“Also, provision must be made for the continued provision of services for accident and emergencies and the care of those with serious illnesses and life-threatening conditions”.

On the possibility of governments and hospital management latching on the new directives to turn down demands for salary enhancement or provision of working tools or health infrastructures, Makanjuola said such could occur.

He said: “This is because, if the doctors have no tools to work with, coupled with an environment unsuitable for job, naturally he would explore all options first, then if everything fails to achieve redress, then the last option would be to down tool.

“What we are saying is that if any doctor goes on strike and it is reported to the Council, we will investigate it and if found culpable, sanctions would be imposed,” he emphasised.

He also said the Council was set to swoop on individuals that used fake imported medical equipment that diagnoses and treats all aliments.

hercules07:

Who regulates the Medical sector, is it the ministries or this council, I do not think they have any powers to swoop on anybody, they should go through the proper legal system jare.

kalokalo:

In saner climes, any medical practitioner who abandons his duty post for whatever reason that results in death or grievous harm to patients will have his medical license permanently revoked. He will be sued by his patients  for all his assets.

That is how serious they they take medical practise. Nigerians are very docile folks. If we start to do the above in Nigeria, the shenanigans of doctors will stop!!

lastpage:

I think the article is not worth the paper it is written on!

On one hand, he states emphatically that they cannot go on strike!
He then says they can go on strike in extreme cases!

And we all know that "Nigeria is replete with extreme cases"!

Looking at it, under the labour law, every worker, including Doctors, have a right to unionize and as such, "strike" is one of the extreme ways to drive the message home!

I wish they never could go on strike because of the kind of service they render but l also wish the Govt will play its own part and eradicate those conditions that make it impossible for them not to go on Strike!

The sad thing is that "Wishes are not Horses, otherwise beggars would rise"!

Lastpage!

KDULAR:

I am yet to be corrected bu still have the opinion that the sorry state of our healthcare/ healthcare delievery in Nigeria is as a result of the administrative Ineptitude and the unfounded pride of our Doctors. For anyone who cares to know, the inceassant strikes stated in the time of Olikoye Kuti, who started giving them undue prominence ovver other Health care professionals,thus they must maintain the disparity. Worst of all , they hardly allow due to their numbers, the full and relevant practice of other professionals thus denying the patient the full benefit of healthcare delivery but will only go on strike to to fight for a higher pay for themselves alone.

Majority of them think of nothing but the money and are happy seeing themselves alone looking good and become jittery when you look or sound better than they are. I doubt if the MDCN
can effect what they proffer as they are one and thesame

Evil Brain:

You cannot deny doctors the rights that everybody else has just because its convenient. If a shoemaker has the right to stay at home then so does a doctor. If you think their services are so important, then you should pay them what they are worth. When they complain about their work conditions, you should try and address their concerns quickly. The problem in Nigeria is that strikes are the only language our useless government seems to understand. You can't negotiate with the government, you can't reason with it. Your only option is to go on strike.  Now, instead of doing something about the appalling work conditions doctors are subjected to, they want to resort to gestapo tactics. Well good luck to them. They'll only succeed in driving even more young doctors out of the country.

Once, when I was in medical school, the residents didn't get paid for about 6 months for one reason or the other. After the fourth month of working for free, they went on strike. Of course, the government immediately invoked the "no work, no pay" rule despite the strike being all about working without pay. I remember one of the senior residents pulling me to one side and advising me to start reading for foreign medical license exams so I could leave Nigeria. "This country doesn't deserve us" is what he said.

Best advice I ever got.

Grassroot:

Whatever happened to the Hippocratic Oath?

kalokalo:

In saner climes, any medical practitioner who abandons his duty post for whatever reason that results in death or grievous harm to patients will have his medical license permanently revoked. He will be sued by his patients for all his assets.

That is how serious they they take medical practise. Nigerians are very docile folks. If we start to do the above in Nigeria, the shenanigans of doctors will stop!!

Evil Brain:

You cannot deny doctors the rights that everybody else has just because its convenient. If a shoemaker has the right to stay at home then so does a doctor. If you think their services are so important, then you should pay them what they are worth. When they complain about their work conditions, you should try and address their concerns quickly. The problem in Nigeria is that strikes are the only language our useless government seems to understand. You can't negotiate with the government, you can't reason with it. Your only option is to go on strike.  Now, instead of doing something about the appalling work conditions doctors are subjected to, they want to resort to gestapo tactics. Well good luck to them. They'll only succeed in driving even more young doctors out of the country.

Once, when I was in medical school, the residents didn't get paid for about 6 months for one reason or the other. After the fourth month of working for free, they went on strike. Of course, the government immediately invoked the "no work, no pay" rule despite the strike being all about working without pay.[b] I remember one of the senior residents pulling me to one side and advising me to start reading for foreign medical license exams so I could leave Nigeria. "This country doesn't deserve us" is what he said.

Best advice I ever got.
[/b]

whobemumu:

MDCN  regulates the medical practice  so they can say this and yes it will be legal for them to abolish strikes

the only problem is that the people who make up mdcn or at least  those who are the decision makers are the consultants

( some of whom caused the problems in the first place  and who have private clinics mostly )

so they will directly benefit from this directive  for the junior medical doctors ( some of the most  oppressed people in the world , Imagine in ibadan uch they can be


   told to go and pick up ythe consultants children from school and sometimes  work in oga clinic without pay or at miserable pay and many worse things )

In normal places liek germany doctors rarely strike   sometimes other ppl strike for the benefits of doctors

in nigeria this directivce means that  doctors will become more oppressed  because all the govt needs to do is settle the powers that be at MDCN  and they will

doctors the right to strike and then anything will be shoved down the doctors throat

( CORRUPT  BASTARDS )

THESE ARE THE SAME PEOPLE THAT COLLECT 5 K DEVELOPMENT LEVY FROM EVERY DOCTOR  IN NIGERIA  every year  AND CANt EVEN  BUILD A DECENT SECRETARIAT ////// if u see mdcn secretariat at broad street ,  even vulcanizers will not use it


thieves and bastards

valacious:

This is good, cos dis doctors have been lording themselves excessively over patients wellbeing with all their strikes, moreso i cant remember them going on strike due to poor working conditions and tools, it's always about pay rise, and what we get in return is always poor service that lacks human empathy! Good one.