GboyegaD:

Have you ever read any article on education and wage rate? All over the world, doctors are well paid compared to any other profession because of the value they add to lives. Do not beef them because you chose not to study medicine so let them earn whatever they earn. If you feel they earn too much, then go back to school to study medicine.

4llerbuntu: ok, this is all about more money right?

fine.

but after paying these doctors more money, will the equipment they need to work also magically appear in the hospitals? will the hospitals expand, and multiply to help the congestion issues?


i think the answer to that is no, therefore they will get paid like double their current wages for doing the same things they have been doing, in the same useless work environments, with the same absence of meaningful equipment to justify their white coats and lofty title!!


i wonder why fashola simply did'nt offer to sack half of them and use their salaries to double the ones remaining. im sure this greedy arses would have taken that deal!

like how many professions in this country earn anything near what these docs earn now? i need examples.

last week they were comparing their wages to that of politicians! like bloody hell!!

naija4change:

if you are sincere with your self now, post a thread on the working relationship between doctors vs nurses and health workers (especially Medical Lab. Scientists). You would see truth it would be like a probe report.

I unionism because i am an activist but Lagos Doctors is too much. Check the difference between what a federal doctor collects and what LASG pays. Be sincere, it is very negligible. Tell your NMA, they are giving government power over unionism due to the abuse of strike process and procedures.

naptu2:
This is the kind of arrogance that turns the masses against the doctors.

Dr. D, an NMA spokesperson said; “Bola Ahmed Tinubu was part of the government team that signed an agreement with Lagos doctors last year, Fashola should honor the agreement. FYI, Lagos judicial workers earn more than Federal judicial workers. Fashola must be a Governor of all not a group”

Dr. IN, a Lagos state doctor has this to say: “The consolidated medical salary scale (CONMESS) was the salary structure designed by the Federal Government four years ago with the aim of providing a uniform salary scale for doctors irrespective of the state, kind of hospital and area of specialization with an annual increment denoting years of experience. Most states in the country immediately began paying CONMESS in full. Two years after this, the medical guild wrote several letters to the Lagos Government to remind them of CONMESS as they were yet to be paid. The governor then SIGNED an agreement that he would commence payment in 2011 with arrears being owed. The Federal Government made it clear that if[b] CONMESS was paid, doctors would ignore the poor work conditions, work extended hours like they have been accustomed to (but this time they would be happy doing it) and they wouldn’t have to leave the country to work abroad. More people would be encouraged to train as doctors and the health of the people would be secured! Instead, tax was increased, CONMESS was not paid, work conditions were not improved, doctors’ lives were lost to stress related illnesses and medical hazards and call rooms were not provided for doctors on call[/b][/color]. When Governor Fashola was reminded in January, he simply said the President couldn’t dictate how much he would pay doctors in his state and the tax increase was necessary so the doctors should get used to it! He said he couldn’t afford to pay CONMESS (but he could plan the most expensive birthday party in the World for Alhaji Tinubu). We then embarked on a legal 3-day warning strike with prior notice to sensitize the people and remind the government of the signed agreement. On resumption, all doctors were given individual query letters (for a joint action!), another one was issued, and then letters were issued for “call to panel / impending dismissal from duty”. A week later, armored tanks were brought to all Lagos General Hospitals and Teaching Hospital Lasuth, Ikeja with doctors walked out of their clinics while seeing patients. The Med guild immediately called for an indefinite strike and the Lagos state government was sued for breach of agreement and victimization of doctors. Fake pay slips were published in the papers some weeks ago claiming doctors were being paid as much as 900,000 whereas a medical professor of 20 years has never been paid as much as 500,000.[color=#990000] A Neurosurgeon (brain surgeon) consultant still collects 171,000 as basic salary (excluding allowances). Be informed we have only about 20 in Nigeria (Two of them with Lagos state, they trained in America and they have both been sacked!) and these are doctors who work round the clock due to the number of head injuries daily as a result of road traffic accidents. 3 days ago, we were issued sack letters and 97 doctors (not 373 like you heard) were employed as Locum doctors (doctors paid per hour). These locum doctors need residents and consultants to put them through. It takes years of experience to perform a caesarian section on a woman or a brain surgery (especially bore hole to relieve increased brain pressure or blood in the brain) or an appendectomy or treat a sick child or even to help a mentally ill patient. The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has made it clear that the newly appointed doctors should not & would not accept the job offer and that all doctors across the nation would join in the strike against victimization on Friday after the ongoing professional exams. The issue is now beyond CONMESS struggle – the government is aiming to devour the medical and dental profession. Be informed that doctors are not slaves, our Hippocratic oath explains that we owe an obligation to our patients and they owe an obligation to us and our services must be paid for.[/color]”

Dr. OF, a doctor working outside Lagos says: “Where I work, I have not gone on leave for 5 years because of the patients. No time to see my parents or siblings, attend burial of friends and relatives and weddings of close friends. I have lost many friends who think that I’m only pretending to be busy meanwhile I see patients every other day that can only be equated to church sessions. Many people cannot sit near a HIV positive patient, but these are the people, whose blood I put hands in everyday during surgery, and their blood splashes into my eyes, mouth and face yet I endure because I won’t abandon them to die. I risk my own life and my family’s life every day to care for others. What I get as hazard allowance monthly is only N5000!!! If I ask my employer to keep an agreement to help me feed my family, is that too much to ask?”[color=#990000]

Dr. B, a Nigerian medical doctor practicing in the US says; “Nigerians need to change their mindset, doctors have lost it all in Naija, from money to respect. The respect and pay of registered nurses (RN) in the US is unthinkable let alone doctors. In many instances you will have to downplay being a doctor because of the attention you get”

Dr. OO had this to say: “We live in a tribal society: ethnic tribes, religious tribes and in this case professional tribe, so I understand why non-doctors would find the fact that doctors should ever have a reason to go on strike repulsive and why doctors would find the lack of understanding from the general populace unbelievable. Like all polarized debates, people are leaning towards their gut instinct, which is hardly objective, but emotionally driven. The doctors’ association needs to get off the emotional debate because trust me statements such as “oh, I work too hard and earn so little” is never going to come out tops against sentiments like “my dad died yesterday because doctors were on strike.” Looking at it in this manner, it becomes easier to understand why we are losing what Dr. F calls the “PR war” and why we are likely to lose future ones. As a doctor, I know first-hand what it is like to treat patients without light, giving injection drugs in the dark, putting myself at the risk of needle stick injuries far from the watching eyes of the public. I do it because, like the public, I care about your dad not dying even though I know you would never ask if a needle pricked me last night. I remember a particular incidence. We had an emergency, an unconscious pregnant woman with a blood pressure 280/220mmhg (severe hypertension) who was almost at term. She was unbooked and my call was almost over but I was available. Her husband had just 200 Naira on him. We had to operate on her within the next hour with no blood, no money and no drugs. But guess what? We did! That was the first time I had a needle stick injury because NEPA/PHCN was at their norm. Minutes later the air was filled with the cry of a pretty baby girl in the arms of a doting grandmother and father. In the background were the moans of a slowly rousing mother and then there was me with a pensive look on my face while awaiting the results of my HIV test. I was okay. Even though, I had worked overtime and had to be up to make work in the morning which was now 2 hours away, there was no complain, no feeling of accomplishment because in my “tribe” I was not unique. It is the story of 788 and thousands of other people I share a proud profession with. I got a gracious thank you from the family, a thankful smile from the now recuperating mother and a smiling appreciation from my parents when I narrated it to them. So to the “court of public opinion” we don’t just measure remunerations in cash only, we do in kind as well. I am sure I am a thousand “thank you” richer and a million “smiles” wealthier because of the job I do. Now all we are asking is that the LASG should match our generosity with trustworthiness and our patience with understanding.”

Dr. K summarizes the doctor’s plight in these words: “Back in the days the next to a nation’s president was the surgeon General…what do we have now? Back in the days doctors used to get accommodation for free or for cheaper prices now doctors are being evicted from the shams they call quarters. Back then you would never want to travel to America after medical school because you were entitled to a car and good pay but now doctors go to even Ghana where circumstances are better for doctors. Back then we had functioning hospitals but now we cancel surgeries week-in week-out because there are no sterile materials, no dependable power supply…”

Dr. T warns: “A government not sensitive to the health of its citizenry is like a walking corpse. Worse of all is the senseless approach to employ rookie doctors to fill in for consultants. I sympathize with the poor people of Lagos state, I pray for the doctors who have always left their families to take care of us despite the harsh conditions, I would advise Governor Fashola to have a rethink and reinstate the sacked doctors.”

Mcdondayan: My question is, is it by force to work for the lagos state govt? I think he shld focus on recruiting more docs who are willing to work in lagos owned hospitals. These guys deserve no mercy at all. Imagine how many pple ll die in these fedral hospitals because of "the solidarity strike"

4llerbuntu: ok, this is all about more money right?

fine.

but after paying these doctors more money, will the equipment they need to work also magically appear in the hospitals? will the hospitals expand, and multiply to help the congestion issues?


i think the answer to that is no, therefore they will get paid like double their current wages for doing the same things they have been doing, in the same useless work environments, with the same absence of meaningful equipment to justify their white coats and lofty title!!


i wonder why fashola simply did'nt offer to sack half of them and use their salaries to double the ones remaining. im sure this greedy arses would have taken that deal!

like how many professions in this country earn anything near what these docs earn now? i need examples.

last week they were comparing their wages to that of politicians! like bloody hell!!

ekt_bear: Lmao.

Boot-licker of Fashola. I don't give a damn about Fashola. He isn't the point. There is a bigger issue at stake here.

Honestly, some of ya'll are dumbazzes...I probably shouldn't be wasting my time expecting you to see the larger picture.

~Bluetooth:


These Lagos doctors are not different from boko harams since they both have -zero regards for human lives.

ekt_bear: @texazzpete: You seem to keep missing the point. The hypocrisy and selfishness of the doctors is not what I base my position on. It is highly amusing to me, but not the main issue.

The main issue is freedom for both employers and employees. For the former to buy labor as cheaply as possible, and for the latter to sell it to the highest bidder.

Why this point is so difficult for you to understand is beyond me.

GboyegaD: There are better ways of showing solidarity than going on strike. Their profession has to do with lives as such, there is a need to weigh the pros and cons of their decisions. Fashola and his cohorts doesn't visit the government hospitals therefore, their decisions wouldn't hurt him. NMA should interfere and get Fashola reverse his silly decision through some form of negotiations. The guy has messed up big time and I hope he would be reasonable enough to correct his mistake.

ekt_bear: So to be 100% clear, cheapest labor possible subject to quality being above level X.

Not just cheapest labor, with no constraints on quality.

ekt_bear: So to be 100% clear, cheapest labor possible subject to quality being above level X.

Not just cheapest labor, with no constraints on quality.

afrodoc:
so wats that level? should it be up to the level obtainable in ghana,gambia,botswana,south africa?
if u want it up to those levels why then are u paying d workers below that level?
u want ur doctor to work up to level X but u r paying him salary X over 2!

Chinedudele: Mind you, Fashola' decision to sack the doctors is not silly. The doctors should value human life than their silly demands. It is in Nigeria people go on strike unnecessarily. There is no where in the world doctors just down tool because of money not considering human life involve. I like to commend the courage of the governor in sacking the doctors and employing replacement immediately. I sincerely love that,. gone are the days when doctors strike shivers everybody. I think this is a lesson to others..

ekt_bear:

I'm not the one who sets the level. Lagos government and Lagos folk decide what they want the minimum quality level of a doctor to be for their state.

But once they've decided what X is, then buy as much labor at that quality level as they can. Which necessarily means finding the cheapest guys you can at the level of quality you want..

12 inches!:


Oga doctors from where? Do you think it easy to become a doctor....Or how many doctors do you av in ur family? (No offense). Doctors will only move to a better country. Unfortunately Nigerian doctors that av the opportunity are leaving. So my question is doctor frm where?

princey83:

Exactly jare, and the cycle continues until they bring the state on its knees.

mbulela:
This type of post is part of the problem.
What exactly are doctors striking for?
Is it late salaries? is it a lack of accommodation?
What exactly is this strike about?
By the way, your sister doctor works in LUTH and that is a federal institution not a LASG org.
Your sister doctor is lucky her own is since Jan. i know a guy who is a consultant and has been working for one of these federal teaching hospitals and has not been paid since he was absorbed around March last year. Dude has a family and has been surviving on his wife's salary and PPs.

Biggyd2:

Exactly my take on this. Why wont this doctors go abroad were they are appreciated. Where for example they dont need to use touch lights to operate on patients. When we all start feeling their loss, maybe just maybe we would appreciate them a little more.

ekt_bear:

I'm not the one who sets the level. Lagos government and Lagos folk decide what they want the minimum quality level of a doctor to be for their state.

But once they've decided what X is, then buy as much labor at that quality level as they can. Which necessarily means finding the cheapest guys you can at the level of quality you want..

armadeo:

you too can go abroad for treatment. Or better still visit your nearest babalawo for instant healing.

texazzpete:

So hypothetically, you would have been happy to stridently support Fashola if last year he had decided not to pay the minimum wage of 18k to state workers...and the workers had gone on strike?

Finally, if you admit it is the duty of the Government to maximize their own enjoyment even if it means its at the expense of the employees...why are you so against GEJ and the PDP? Afterall it can be argued by them that Nigeria is ticking just fine (and the big boys are enjoying) even if the masses are complaining

beneli:

The bolded part is the gist of the matter from the perspective of the Doctors.

But I agree with Oyb's advice - leave while you can - It get's more and more difficult with each passing year.

I learnt the hard way that you can't afford to be 'charitable' and altruistic - in a society like Nigeria . . . not when you're frustrated, you can't.

When the curse lifted or whatever it was that held me bound 'serving humanity' as a ‘godforsaken and wretched Doctor . . . who believed that’ money is not really the issue'. . . I briefly visited the Gambia and also Ghana to check out things there, before deciding to jump ship completely and do something better with my life!

In those days . . . in the early 2000’s. . . it was still pretty easy to leave Nigeria for places like the Republic of Ireland, T&T, Barbados and even this UK where I have finally docked at to practice with a bit more dignity.

Now it's become increasingly more difficult to travel out as more and more people are shed of the shackles that bound them to whatever pledge of poverty they made . . . which certainly is not part of the Hippocratic oath, increasing by day the competition in practically every country that offers a semblance of respect to Doctors!

In my 'batch' that left when we did, at least 2 travelled to Bridgetown in Barbados, and are now Consultants. Then, there was no need for exams or 'primaries' before you could got into the residency programme there. And you were also paid way better than you got in Nigeria! You can Google Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown and contact them to find out what their requirements are now. I suspect there’s an exam but i’m sure it’s still easier than PLAB and USMLE . . .

The bottom line - if you are still single, leave like yesterday . . . you're worth more than the nonsense being hurled at you in Naija. When you’re more comfortable and have the privilege due you as a Doctor, to want the finer things of life, you can then afford to say; ‘it’s not really about the money’ . . .