Latif Ibirogba, the information officer of the Lagos State government has commented on the ongoing strike by medical doctors and gas workers., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Lagos Condemns NUPENG’s Solidarity Strike With Doctors .
Sunday, 27 May 2012 00:00 Editor News -
LAGOS State Government yesterday condemned the recourse to blackmail and arm-twisting by the Nigeria Medical Association and National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Union (NUPENG) on the issue of medical doctors sacked in the state over an illegal strike.
The State Government in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, said it would soon be clear to the people that it is the NUPENG whose stock in trade is to call a strike at every flimsy excuse that is seeking to inflict more pains on the people through its sympathy strike and not the state government that has taken decisive steps to restore normalcy in the health sector in Lagos State.
Noting that NUPENG has shown clearly by its rash ultimatum that it had a clear political agenda, the Commissioner said it was unfortunate that NUPENG’s voice was not raised in defense of doctors in the Military hospitals who have not been paid for nine whole months, while calling a strike in support of doctors who are well paid up to date.
According to the statement, NUPENG should not use the doctors’ strike as a subterfuge to get back at the Lagos State Government for spearheading the much needed clearing of Apapa, which has become a nightmare to lawful residents and businesses in the area due to indiscriminate parking and blockade of the roads by tanker drivers
The Statement also noted that the medical profession is one that has always been a refined profession that is guided by decorum. According to the Commissioner, government would not be stampeded or intimidated by the antics of politically sponsored unions into abdicating its responsibilities to the citizenry and the rest of its workforce, adding that the dictatorship of a union to the detriment of the well being of the society will not stand.
While thanking the well meaning Nigerians and civil society organizations, traditional rulers, religious leaders, the members of the Bar and Federal Parliament who have offered meaningful intervention towards the resolution of the situation, the Commissioner noted with dismay the antics of doctors who abandoned their patients without any justifiable reason and who are currently engaged in a campaign of calumny against the state government and the doctors who are ready to offer conscientious service to the people.
The Statement added: “We have observed that some people are still making efforts to intimidate the doctors who are working in our hospitals, threatening to ‘report’ them to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and arrange for them to be ‘punished.”
The laws setting up MDCN are detailed in the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, Cap 221 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 and the Code of Conduct of Medical Ethics is a body of rules drawn up by MDCN to guide professional conduct of Medical and Dental Practitioners, the statement noted.
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