Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State
has appealed
to the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, to
call of its
strike in the interest of patients in the various
hospitals
begging for attention.
Speaking at the second convocation ceremony
of the
Lagos State College of Health Technology in
Yaba, Lagos,
Southwest, Nigeria on Thursday 3 July, the
governor
disclosed that the state has employed 265
health
graduates.
He then appealed to all medical workers to
desist from
using strike actions as a means of meeting
their demand.
He said those that invented strikes in the
country’s health
sector did it for the sake of their patients and
not for
themselves, thereby asking the present crop of
doctors to
emulate the past leaders.
Fashola said all medical workers from the least
to the
highest in the chain of command were like
gods on earth,
saying that “only sick people who have been ill
knows
your importance.
“Workers in other sectors of the country’s
economy are
not satisfied with their remuneration. They are
not
holding governments to ransom because they
do not
want Nigeria to fail,” he stated.
However, the governor gave automatic
employment to all
265 fresh graduates of the college, saying
that his delight
was that “we are producing graduates in
areas where the
state economy has a compelling need. The
primary
healthcare is critical to Lagos economy.”
“We are producing graduates, who will help us
achieve our
objectives. So, in order to show that we are
ready to work
our talk, I say publicly that all of the
graduating students
today will be immediately employed by our
government.
“We will work the process. We will go to the
State House
of Assembly if it is necessary to raise
supplementary
budget to fund their employment. But I make
this
commitment to you as a matter of honour,” he
said.
According to him, “we are offering automatic
employment to the 265 fresh graduates of the
college. The
state government primary objective is to make
sure that
hospitals are not filled because they ensure
initially that
the people do not fall sick.”
Fashola also said the government would grant
autonomy
to the management of the institution, saying
that
government would only intervene in the affair
of the
institution when necessary.
“Believe me, no governor, no president wants
to be
involved in day to day running of institutions.
That is why
there are Vice Chancellors, provosts, lecturers
and
governing councils. Let us ask ourselves almost
too often
when there are problems in the schools where
do the
students and lecturers run to, they run to the
government. This is a shared responsibility.
When the
request to grant this institution autonomy gets
to me, I
will approve it immediately,” he stated.