jumpmasta:
Either you were kicked out from medical school or your low jamb scores could not fetch you medicine as a course...either way you can still buy jamb form for medicine

ngak: 373 is propaganda. In reality 97 were hired. I am currently in lasuth and am yet to see anyone that resembles a doctor

fm7070: let's see how far they can go.
he who laugh last, laugh best.

chuks49:

Had the Doctors gone on strike to protest these issues you raised they would have garnered enough public sympathy and the storey today would have been different, instead they rather sacrifice their sick patients in the alter of negotiation.

HIPPOCRATIC OATH: MODERN VERSION
I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.
I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

princey83:

Just so u know a bulk of this salary u are shouting about is call duty allowance
Do lawyers take call?
I beg to disagree, do you know a lawyer in Lagos state civil service on level 15 earns circa the same amount as an house officer(level 10) fresh from university? Do you think the lawyers are not underpaid?

ziga:

People will bring up whatever they can ( whether they know about it or not) just to sound right on Nairaland.

Those saying Docs have forgotten the hippocratic oath, please show what portion of the oath states that docs should not request for adequate compensation or that they should continue to suffer and smile.

If docs in Naija were to follow some lines in the oath, in the absence of equipments and a proper enabling condition which includes enumeration should not work so that they would DO NO HARM.

gtrust: MY PEOPLE!
MY PEOPLE!
MY PEOPLE!

Na 3 times I call you oh!

Don't play with Doctor, I beg you!

Pay them well, I beg you oh!

If a Doctor makes mistake na burial be the next thing oh!
If you hire doctor for half price then na half life you go get!

Somebody said inexperienced Doctor is better than no Doctor, my people NA LIE!
Better make you die jeje or leave matter to God than make some inexperienced Doctor
force you enter grave!

isleman:

Please get your calculations right. we don't all go to government hospital. the last time i was there was 1999. so minus me from your 16million figure. What we are saying is strike is NOT the answer. Strike action is abused. Doctors should value their profession. They shouldn't use human lives as a means of bargaining. are the police as catered for as the doctors? why hasn't the police ever gone on strike? such laws that prevent police from going on strike should prevent doctors too.

stagger:

You are indeed very st/upid. Where will you recruit the lecturers from? DO you know how many years it takes to train a lecturer? It takes 6 years to train a doctor in the university, but at least 10 years to get a lecturer who will commence work at the lowest lecturing cadre.

There are too many people thinking with their b/utt holes on Nairaland, and you are apparently one of them. What of the senators who are collecting N42million every quarter in allowances? Who are the people who are taking all the money in this country?

Sh/ut the hell up!

ziccoit:

I now come to understand, at least with this comment, that majority of posts here are born out of hatred for the noble work of doctors. The reason could be traced to the fact that majority of students wanted to be doctors and later jambed into whatever they eventually studied by jamb.

Stop vexing now. It is not good for the soul.

Had the Doctors gone on strike to protest these issues you raised they would have garnered enough public sympathy and the storey today would have been different, instead they rather sacrifice their sick patients in the alter of negotiation.

edicolove:

Are you for real? You will replace them? With what? Ok tell me, how do you replace a heart surgeon? With a native doctor from ikotun or okokomaiko? How do you replace an ear-nose-and-throat specialist? With a sooth sayer from Osun? Are you in your right mind? You say the doctors have lost out? How? Are the patients members of the doctors families? You Fashola supporting folks have got to be the d.um.best set of folks I have ever seen.

The point is how did it even reach this 'place of no return' situation. That is catastrophic human resource management. Its a disaster. In any sane country, this would get the governor fired. It should never have turned into we against them situation. That is leadership 101 and Fashola has completely blown it here!
d-

The true test
of a leader is his/her faithfulness to collective agreements, for
Machiavellianism is never welcome in a people-led democracy.

sartorius: NMA Press Statement On The Face-Off Between The Lagos State Government And The Medical Guild



Our dear friends in the fourth estate of the realm, on behalf of the Nigerian Medical Association, I most warmly welcome you to this Press Conference designed to update you and the general public on our Association's views on the lingering crisis in the health sector of Lagos state, occasioned by the face-off between the Lagos state government (LASG) and the Medical Guild.

As you are all aware the current dispute between the Lagos state government (LASG) and the Medical Guild did not start today. It dates back to September 2009 when a new salary structure for medical/dental practitioners (the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure; CONMESS) was circularized by the government. Thereafter, between the months of September and November 2010, several meetings took place between the LASG and the Medical Guild with the aim of securing the implementation of Full CONMESS in Lagos state. These engagements culminated in a signed agreement to implement CONMESS by the Lagos state government, with the effective date of implementation put at January 2011.

Whereas, the public thought that the signed agreement was going to put an end to the face-off, believing that the LASG was going to faithfully implement the signed agreement, later events were to prove them wrong, as the public and members of the Medical Guild waited in vain for the full implementation of the signed agreement.

On account of what was perceived as the reluctance of the LASG to implement what she had signed as well as the introduction of compressed Salary Grade level steps for doctors employed by the LASG, the Medical Guild resumed her industrial action in the month of February, 2011. This was later to be resolved through the intervention of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu (former Executive Governor of Lagos State) who, along with the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Jide Idris, and the Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria in Lagos state, Sir.Henry Ajomale, brokered an agreement on behalf of the Lagos state government on March 24, 2011, with promises that:
1) CONMESS will be paid in FULL to all doctors, with no compression of salary grade level steps; and
2) that allowances will be classified as non-taxable, with further welfare packages developed to improve the working conditions of all healthcare providers in the state.

Though the Medical Guild suspended her industrial action to give room for the implementation of the new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), she was disappointed that again the Lagos state government did not keep faith with her own part of the bargain. Sadly, all attempts at convincing the Lagos state government to faithfully implement the signed agreement ended in vain. Having waited for over 12 months with their demands unmet the Medical Guild resumed their earlier suspended strike action.

Since the commencement of the strike action by the Medical Guild, there have been several unsavoury events in the health sector of Lagos state, including the unprovoked intimidation, incessant police harassment and sack of over 700 medical/dental practitioners in the employment of Lagos state government, as well as the recent forceful eviction of the same medical/dental practitioners from their residential quarters.


MEDIATORY ROLE OF THE NATIONAL BODY OF NMA
Exactly a week ago at the 52nd Annual General Conference/Annual Delegates Meeting of the Nigerian Medical Association, the crisis in the health sector of Lagos state was deliberated upon. It was the resolution of the NMA that inspite of the degeneration of the crisis, the National body of the NMA should initiate a genuine dialogue of both parties in the dispute. This informed the constitution of a body of Elders commissioned by the NMA to go into dialogue with the Lagos state government.

Distinguished Men and Women of the fourth estate of the realm, the national leadership of the NMA came into Lagos state yesterday, Thursday, 10th May, 2012, to seek a mediated settlement of all the issues in dispute, with the aim of getting back on track the healthcare system of Lagos state.

Having secured an appointment with His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Lagos state, Barr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, a meeting took place between His Excellency and the President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele. At that meeting, the NMA President impressed on the Governor the need to urgently put the current crisis to bed through genuine dialogue, as it is in the interest of Lagos state government.

The Governor expressed his commitment to the resolution and directed the Head of Service to meet with the NMA to resolve the matter, with a promise to faithfully implement the outcome of our engagement with the Head of Service.

Sadly, after over 4 hours of engagement with the Head of Service of Lagos state, the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Jide Idris, Permanent Secretaries and other officers of the state government, the initiated dialogue ended in a deadlock occasioned by the fixated and vexatious position of the Head of Service that the Lagos state government had resolved to discipline her doctors the way she had done it, and that the matter was beyond him.

Whereas the NMA was resolved to sacrifice all the time to ensure a negotiated settlement of the crisis the mulish posture of a conqueror exhibited by the Head of Service acted as a wet blanket, hence the NMA thought it necessary to brief the general public on our findings and the way forward.


OUR FINDINGS/ OBSERVATIONS
1) Whereas the Lagos state government signed an agreement to implement, with effect from January 2011, a mutually agreed salary structure for medical/dental practitioners which will not put them at a comparative disadvantage to their counterparts in other health institutions, the NMA observes that this agreement by the Lagos state government has not been kept as the current operational salary structure for medical/dental practitioners in Lagos state clearly puts them at an obvious disadvantage with the extremely unexplainable and strange compression of salary grade level steps. This development not only amounts to salary losses, but more fundamentally conduces to a forced retrogression of the career paths of medical/dental practitioners employed in Lagos state as between 3 and 7 years of service to Lagos state government was swept away by this action. Additionally, the loss of steps by these doctors will also affect their retirement benefits, and puts them at a disadvantage if they chose to transfer their service to another government.
2) Whereas Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (former Executive Governor of Lagos state), Dr. Jide Idris (Lagos state Commissioner for Health) and Sir Henry Ajomale (Lagos state Chairman of ACN) signed on behalf of the Lagos state government, an MOU with the Medical Guild dated March 24, 2011, to pay CONMESS salary in FULL to all doctors with no compression of grade level steps, there is nothing to show that this agreement has been kept.
3) Whereas His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Lagos state, Barr.Babatunde Fashola, at one time approved and directed the payment of a mutually computed Salary/CONMESS salary structure which needed only an extra N29Million naira monthly, it is sad to note that between His Excellency's Office and the Office of the Head of Service, that promise and directive arcanely disappeared into thin air.
4) Whereas the Medical Guild wrote several letters to the Head of Service requesting for a meeting with the Lagos state government to sort out the outstanding issues, the Head of Service chose to officially ignore the Medical Guild as no official response to their request has been received to date.
5) Whereas, the Medical Guild out of frustration with Government's evasive tactics met and collectively resolved to resume their earlier suspended strike action, the State Government's response through harassment, traumatization of doctors, issuance of mass queries and sack letters, smacks of military dictatorship, totalitarianism and democratic insensateness.
6) Whereas NMA recognizes the right of all citizens to assemble and associate to protect their interest, as guaranteed by section 40 of the 1999 constitution (as amended), the NMA is unhappy with the attempts to fracture and decimate the Medical Guild. NMA totally frowns at this attempt.
7) Whereas the NMA recognizes the right of all citizens to express their fundamental right of freedom of speech, for all those who claim to be members of the Nigerian Medical Association by virtue of their registration with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, the NMA will not tolerate any reckless, unethical and fissiparous action by any of her members that seeks to put the Association or Medical Profession in bad light or into disrepute. Accordingly, all such members are warned to desist from such untoward and opprobrious acts.
Whereas the NMA notes that hitherto the Doctor-Patient population ratio in Lagos state was 1:14,545 (far from the African standard of 1:10,000 and the global standard of 1:1000), the current action of Lagos state will further worsen this ratio with poorer health indices (Maternal Mortality Rate, Infant Mortality Rate, Under-5 Mortality Rate, etc) bound to emerge on account of the reduced medical manpower and poorer access to healthcare.
9) Whereas the NMA recognizes the right of an employer to employ her staff, the NMA frowns at the on-going casualization of the Medical Profession in Lagos state, as exemplified by the purported locum appointment offered by the Lagos state Health Service Commission. While we challenge the Lagos state government to publish the full list of those she claimed to have so far employed, we urge all medical/dental practitioners to be very wary of such appointments aimed at denigrating the Medical Profession.


WAY FORWARD/RECOMMENDATIONS
1) While the Nigerian Medical Association appreciates the reception offered the NMA by His Excellency, Barr. Babatunde Fashola, it is the well considered position of the NMA that the current state of affairs in Lagos state demands a movement from Administrative grandiloquence and fantasy to Administrative Realism, by faithfully implementing all promises and signed agreements with the Medical Guild. The true test of a leader is his/her faithfulness to collective agreements, for Machiavellianism is never welcome in a people-led democracy.
2) While the NMA frowns at any attempt to assault the Medical Profession, we totally reject the on-going sack, publication of the salaries of medical/dental practitioners, traumatisation and forced eviction of doctors in the employment of Lagos state government despite the existing Lagos state Tenancy Law. We appeal to all our affected colleagues to remain calm as it is always darkest before dawn.
3) While we direct the state branch of NMA to explore all options she deems fit, the National Body of the NMA will be convening an Emergency Delegates Meeting soon, to review the current situation and take a national position.
4) The NMA restates her willingness to partner with the Lagos state government and other state governments in Nigeria in the task of enthroning quality, accessible and robust healthcare services. In particular, our doors of engagement are still open to the Lagos state government, and we sincerely hope this window is genuinely utilized.


STRIKE ACTION BY OTHER HEALTH WORKERS IN NIGERIA
While the Nigerian Medical Association recognizes the right of any citizen or group to advance individual or collective interest, we note that the current strike action by other health workers under the guise of JOHESU has no bearing on international best practices or professionalism of the health sector in Nigeria, as it is all a calculated attempt to undermine the professional status and position of medical/dental practitioners.

While we urge the Federal Government to do nothing that will further worsen the crisis in the health sector, we note with happiness the quality services being rendered by medical/dental practitioners in hospitals across the country. We wish to encourage them to remain at their duty post to render their best to their patients, despite all encumberances.


APPRECIATION
1) The Nigerian Medical Association sympathizes with the good people of Lagos state and sincerely appreciates all for their patience, support and understanding. We assure them that we shall zestfully work to end the current crisis.
2) We also wish to appreciate all individuals, groups and societies who have so far made effort to end the current crisis.
3) We appreciate all our members nation-wide for their tolerance, patience and understanding. We assure them that we shall always protect their individual and collective rights.

May God help us to rescue Lagos state from her current quagmire.

Dr. Osahon Enabulele, M.B; B.S, FWACP, MHPM
President, Nigerian Medical Association
Friday, 11th May, 2012
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ballabriggs:

You're the one without sense. If the Docs are lazy, what has been done to motivate them? Remuneration policies as part of governance means remunerating to attract, retain your work force and that which is commensurate with the work done. Doctors in Lagos should earn more than Doctors anywhere in Nigeria just like Doctors in London get a higher pay than the rest of the UK. The government can keep lying to themselves. There is no development coming your way if things go on this way. It means they have not prioritized health which is critical to development.

princey83:

I beg to disagree, do you know a lawyer in Lagos state civil service on level 15 earns circa the same amount as an house officer(level 10) fresh from university? Do you think the lawyers are not underpaid?