That's it, a growing nation indeed! 1st selfless move 2 b made in recent tym. We wl sure get there

Mai Suya:

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/11303-medical-council-outlaws-strike-for-doctors.html
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.
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.
“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.

When is their strike not in extreme circumstance? Is it when they ask for comess? When ARD asked for better working conditions at the government hospitals? When they demand for decent equipments at the hospitals? Let's face it, doctors in naija are not appreciated but despite that,they don't just go on strike, it's always as a last resort; they only go on strike when all options are exhausted. Before you hear they are on strike, several meetings,negotiations had gone on behind closed doors. This guy is speaking from both sides of his mouth, He should just have said doctors must lobby MDCN excos before embarking on strike!

Mai Suya:

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/11303-medical-council-outlaws-strike-for-doctors.html
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.

Hand them over to who? To private hospital owners that a lot of patients can't afford to pay? Or the mushroom ones people are scared of going to?

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!!

Yea, in places where doctors are well taken care of, work under good conditions, not frustrated with the system and are well appreciated.

Da Doctor:

yes na, IS IT NOT EXTREME CASES THAT HAS ALWAYS CAUSED THE STRIKE?

I wonder o! There will always be 'extreme cases'.

What does MDCN know?
All they do is sit down and collect fees for dues, licenses etc all year without considering the plight of the doctors they are suppose to protect ¡!!
ABEGI!!!

valacious :

This is good, cos dis doctors have been lording themselves excessively over patients wellbeing with all their strikes,

I don't blame you one bit. Not your fault anyway. I rather blame the rotten system which has given fish-brains as you are the liberty to vomit bile. Who employed these doctors Patients abi??

moreso i cant remember them going on strike due to poor working conditions and tools,

So who is responsible for the system?? The working conditions The medical equipments Doctors??

[/quote]

it's always about pay rise

What more can you expect after spending 7 gruelling years of consistent studying, cramming etc sometimes while other students are on semester break, you stay behind to continue jacking in order to save a fellow human tomorrow. If you get unlucky, you might get resits or even repeat
, and what we get in return is always poor service that lacks human empathy! Good one.
[quote]

'

undue prominence ?

well wether u like it or not every other health care profession was created or modified to work with doctors

so if u remove doctors there is nothing else hence yes WE ARE THE PRIMUS INTERPARES ( first among equals )

pharmacists , nurses , lab techs , physiotherapist or anybody cannot work alone

of course that does not mean that they have no relevance , i personally have as much respect for other health professionals as i do for doctors cos beliv me it

is not an easy Job

but those health professionals do not have the power , doctors do , the best option is to have one union but that simply would never work

My dad is a Professor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, whether there's a strike or not, he still works. Others should emulate this.

i admire ur dad but he can do this becos he can afford it financially and professionaly , he is a big boy in the profession , and he has a good heart , but a good heart is not going to feed us

Whatever happened to the Hippocratic Oath

go and pay your landlord with hippocratic oath , or the market woman in the store

bricklayers ,tile layers , some carpenters , bus drivers earn mor than some doctors u wont belive it

u would think of all doctors as working with the govt , what of those employed by private some earn 4o k a month , u wont believe it

hence they have to do 2 jobs to make ends meet

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.

Over 80% of our colleagues especially those in the state are looking for their way out of the country. Federal centres even dey try small. At least they manage implement conmess. If take a look at the conditions in some state hospitals, you'll weep for the profession.

By the time I'm through with NGO I'm currently engaged in, whose conditions are similar to those obtainable in 'saner climes' but which unfortunately will be concluding its operations in Naija be next year, I can't imagine going back to the rot in public sector. Na to check out be the next move.  

Ok
Till when dey no pay dem salary 4 some months.

Thank God, i wonder why doctors should go on strike, who will take care of the sick ones, Things are beginning to fall into 'good places' in Nigeria, Thank God again.

I LIKE PROF. ROGER MAKANJUOLA - BRILLIANT ACADEMIC, INDUSTRIOUS AND VERSATILE.
IF DOCTORS CANNOT GO ON STRIKE, WHICH I HATE VERY MUCH TO DO AS A DOCTOR, WHAT OF NURSES, LAB. SCIENTISTS AND PHARMACISTS? CAN DEY GO ON STRIKE?
DO I CARE FOR A PATIENT WITHOUT NURSING SUPPORT, GOOD DIAGNOSTICS LAB. E.T.C
CAN  OTHER HEALTH PROFESSIONALS (DOCS, NURSES, PHARMACISTS, LAB SCIENTISTS, HEALTH SUPPORT STAFF) HELP THE MDCN DEFINE EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES?
I HAVE A FEW
1. EXAMINING AN ACCIDENT PATIENT ON NIGHT CALL USING THE LIGHT FROM MY NOKIA PHONE
2. SENDING TWO BLOOD SAMPLES OF THE SAME PATIENT TO THE LAB UNDER DIFFERENT NAMES AND GETTING TWO VERY DIFFERENT RESULTS
3. THE HOSPITAL PHARMACY CAN NO LONGER TELL ME THE DRUG THEY PRESCRIBE IS GENUINE OR FAKE, COS THEY DONT HAVE THE EQUIPMENT TO TEST DRUG BATCHES
I DON TIRE

As of today, all Nigerians should be on permanent considering the state of the nation. But I guess the MDCN, like nigeria itself, is run by people who are benefiting from the current state of affairs.

Such a sorry nation. The health authorities should be thinking of how to make things better but rather they prefer dictatorial tactics. Next they will say no patient should complain about his/her treatment. A real pity.

Who told the mdcn that any doctor has ever gone on strike 4 a flimsy excuse? Is going on strike 4 ur salary when all negotiations hav yielded no result not justified by law? People shd stop painting doctors in bad light. They work tirelessly day & night, all year round, 4 the benefit of patients, all most people see is that they're going on strike ( which by the way, is 4 d overall benefit of the patients). A consultant neurosurgeon was performing a brain surgery one night when the electricity kept going on & off, & in between the consultant had to make do with light from a phone! And then someone has the guts to say doctors shouldn't in on strike to correct such an anomaly. I think the mdcn should find a way to liaise with the government to tackle the real issues at hand instead of joining the ignorant public (no offence intended) to castigate its own members.

The issue here is that most posters do not understand the plight of Nigerian Doctors. About pay, just compare what fellow African countries like Ghana, South Africa, Namibia , Botswana pay their Doctors, You will weep for the average Naija Doctor. I don't want to talk about developed countries. This is the same reason why Younger Doctors will continue to leave Nigeria (brain drain) for greener pastures even in Namibia(you can imagine) if the issues are not addressed immediately; better facilities e.g CT scans MRI, PET scans, increased funding for better research, all inclusive.

Think of the Nigerian Medical system in the next 40 years if this continues. You should be thinking of emigrating too because Healthcare is an essential commodity whether you like it or not as the service will always be needed. Thank You

This MDCN folks are nothing but a bunch of idiots whose power of cerebration has been clogged by the "owanbe Ghana Must Go Bags" of the government. In "saner" climes their would be no need for this grandstanding "law" of theirs because their would be no strikes in the first place.

Imagine spending 8yrs (6yrs + 1yr of housemanship + another year of silly almost completely useless compulsory service) and at the end its almost like you have nothing to show for it,  no decent jobs, working environment is bullshit, no drugs, no equipments, no light, and of course no life. It all gets very frustrating while some halfwit who doesn''t even know how to spell 'John Bull' carts away hundreds of millions because he is a Big man government official.

Hippocratic oath my foot, this buffoons have also forgotten that a clause in the Hippocratic Oath says that "I will not do anything contrary to the law of nature". If I dont have anything to work it, if I am not appreciated (not to even talk of being properly paid), If my patients keep dying because they cannot afford simple drugs and procedures that will save their lives simply because successive governments have been highly irresponsible. Gentlemen If after repeated dialogue, threats and pleading I go on strike because I just cannot take it anymore have I done anything contrary to the law of nature? Nay

what about me? what about my own children? what about my wife,  what about my parents, my brothers, my sisters? or u think they are all doctors? think again. Will the garri seller or okada man "understand" when I tell him I have no money so I cant pay him because I am a doctor? Yet everyday only me attends to close to 140 pregnant women, do u seriously expect that I will be able to spend quality time with each one of them? Of course not.


Fellow Nigerians Gird your loins because the brain-drain is about to escalate, I just cant do this anymore.

my senntiments exactly some years ago , now me and my friends done run commot

a loss to naija

Dr. Roger Makanjuola may be a distinguished scholar, obviously he his a bad administrator.
Probably he wants to be a good boy of the government and increase the funds allocated to the MDCN. The health care delivery system is full of problems and it is not a priority for him to outline strategies to tackle them. Quacks have taken over medical practice. Some state governments even employ foreign quacks to work as doctors. What has he done to reduce maternal mortality in Nigeria which is the 2nd highest in the world apart from India.
He wants to dabble into labour issues which is not is primary duty. As a resident doctor, did he not go on strike? Did the Hippocratic Oath authorize Health Officials and Hospital Administrators to embezzle funds meant for health care, research and training of officers. It is a shame that some Federal Medical Centres in the country have not commenced residency training for doctors because the Medical Directors are corrupt.
It is very clear that the Chairman of the MDCN does not know what should be his priorities. May God have mercy on our administrators.