(http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/thumbnail.php?file=Gov_Babatunde_Fashola____NEW_563596943.jpg&size=article_medium) Gov Fashola •Medical Guild kicks
Striking Lagos doctors got the boot yesterday.
In all, 788 of them were fired. In their place, 373 newly employed medics are to resume in the various hospitals.
The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Board and the State’s Health Service Commission (HSC) announced the sacking of the doctors, who have been on strike since April 16.
In a statement, Head of Service Adesegun Ogunlewe said the two bodies sacked the doctors as a result of their failure to explain why they were absent from work without leave and without the due observance of the rules and regulations guiding strikes and industrial actions in the Public Service.
The sacked doctors include 316 working with LASUTH and 472 working in the other hospitals.
The statement added that as the newly employed doctors resume, recruitment continues.
Explaining the events leading to the sack of the doctors, the statement said: “Resulting from the contemptible act of the medical doctors, the LASUTH Board and the HSC, the two bodies that appointed them, in line with subsisting statutes, served those who were ‘absent without Leave’ (AWOL) with queries.”
Some of them responded; the majority of the doctors shunned the query.
The statement maintained that the strike shocked the government “since the leadership of the Medical Guild still met during the week preceding the illegal strike with top Government officials in charge of health and establishment sectors”.
The government stressed that the doctors only gave 24 hours notice “as against the time-tested and statute-bound processes and procedures for declaration of industrial disputes”.
A letter dated May 4 and signed by the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of LASUTH, Professor David Oke, said the Personnel Management Board (PMB), the disciplinary organ of government, met between April 11 and 13 to establish a case of misconduct, to wit: absence from duty without leave or reasonable cause against the doctors.
The disciplinary body also established against the doctors a case of insubordination for failure to respond to lawful query issued to them.
“The committee,therefore, recommends your dismissal from service, in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Rule No 04502, 04507 and 04508. The board has, therefore, approved your dismissal.
“Therefore, you are to convey the possession of the property of the state government in your custody to the Chief Medical Director (CMD).”
Medical Guild Chairman Dr. Olumuyiwa Odusote described the sack as a confirmation of the government’s insensitivity and insincerity to resolve the issue on ground. He said the Guild has taken its hand off the matter and has handed the case to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).
He condemned the state government for its “insincerity”, saying that they called the doctors for a meeting on Saturday whereas they had signed their sack letter a day before.
He also flayed the House of Assembly for passing a vote of no confidence in the bid to resolve the issue.
“The meeting held on Saturday at the House of Assembly and they (House members) showed partisanship on the issue.”
Odusote, however, said the doctors have no regret for embarking on the strike, adding that their pay is poor.
The doctors called for a meeting at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) with the NMA to determine the next line of action.
TheNation
788 doctors sacked in Lagos! Unemployment is looming!