In spite of sacking over 700 doctors in its employ, the Lagos State Government has expressed willingness to resume negotiations with the affected doctors.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, the Health Commissioner, Jide Idris, said that "government is still available for negotiation."

"The issue of negotiation has not been fore-closed; when they are willing, we are willing to dialogue with them, but our first priority is to restore services to the health sector," he said.

However, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Aderemi Ibirogba, added that the affected doctors "should go back and satisfy administrative issues involved since they were given queries by their boss (state government)."

By implication, the doctors are expected to respond to queries earlier issued to them and be willing to go back to work.

Alusi Okija: Fashola should not negotiate with terrorists.

Chillext: They should't have sacked them at first place, since they knew dat there will be room for negotiations....... Funny people

Alusi Okija: Fashola should not negotiate with terrorists.

norrisman: Unfortunately these 700 doctors missed the boat and should have left those shores long ago. I dont know about the US but until Aoril last year it was quite easy for doctors to apply for a work visa, come in, do their PLAB while doing other jobs to keep body and soul together and thenstart working almost immediately after passing PLAB even if it is just as a locum. Things have changed now and it is more difficult if not nigh on impossible with the current visa regime.

It is a shame that this is what they are rewarded with after staying back and sacrificing for their country.

4bobo:
and so they should allow people to die any how cos of stubborn doctors holding health care into ransom? If they want govt to consider them back, good. Govt can do negotiate and reach agrement with lenency. Can you do that in a private firm and be fired and expect room for negotiation? Never! Once you are sack, you are sack.that is why it is govt.
We appreciate their efforts and work but it must not entered their brains too much. Someone employed them. They should remember.
Ibet it with u.many will be back as doctors and some will be suspended. Many big politicans have their relatives as doctors. So it will be hard to sack all. But i know govt will over power their union wch will be very bad for health care.

Goldia: Doctors have the right to demand for better working conditions (esp. increase in salaries) considering what their counterparts overseas get but in demanding for their rights, they have caused loss of lives instead of saving lives. It's high time we had leaders who are compassionate as well as strict. If all workers keep making outrageous demands in 'this' Nigeria, the whole situation will get worse.
However, both parties should remember that when elephants are at war, the grasses will suffer. lol

Alusi Okija: Fashola should not negotiate with terrorists.

mikeapollo:

We Nigerians encourage bad governance with this kind of ignorant/stupid talk.

Nobody wants people to die in the hospital because of strike. We know life is very precious and with no duplicate. But I blame the Fashola Lagos State Govt for their arrogant and dictatorial approach to this issue.

These doctors had an agreement with Lagos State for over a year now and the govt refused/failed to honour this agreement. The doctors made several efforts to make the gpvt address those issues without succes.They embarked on a 3-day warning strike, and THEY RESUMED WORK after the 3-day warning strike.
Rather than allow the tension to cool down and seek ways to resolve the matter, the arrogant and dictatorial Fashola and his govt issued query letters to almost 1000 doctors at a go! What is the meaning of that? The govt by that act alone has shown that they are not interested in solving the matter, but would rather engage and confront the striking doctors to prolong the matter.

We should put ourselves in the doctors shoes.....would you go to work if your employer gives 1000 of you query letters after embarking on a Trade Union strike? Is that the attitude of a govt that is genuinely and sincerely interested in finding solutions to the problems of the doctors?

There is national harmonised wage structure for medical doctors that cover all the 36 states and Abuja. The poorest states in Nigeria pay their doctors this agreed remunerations without execption. Why must Lagos State pay below what is the national minimum to his doctors who work under very heavy pressure due to the large population in Lagos State and the pressure on the hospitals. These doctors generate revenue to the state govt because the patients pay for treatment in these hospitals.

All the governors, commissioners, State Houses of Assembly etc have a uniform salary structure across the 36 states of Nigeria. Is Fashola collecting less salary than other governors? Are Lagos State Commisioners/House of Assembly collecting less salaries/allowances than other states? Why must Lagos doctors be paid less than other doctors in the country who may not be doing half of what Lagos doctors do?

To sack about 1000 doctors overnight is a clear indication that Fashola is a misfit for the post he is occupying. He should stop mentioning Awolowo and his legacies. Fashola is a an arrogant amd dictatorial capitalist to the core with no compassion for the poor masses. His policies have showed that he is an extortionist...Lekki Tollgates, LASU school Fees, Yaba Market Mall scam, Land Use charge increment, harrasment of peasant market-women/pure-water sellers for taxes/levies etc!

Fashola has developed an annoying penchant for deploying mobile police men to harrass and intimidate people whenever people want to protest against his policies.He did it at Lekki and LASU

I have never heard of a govt deploying policemen to hospitals....who does Fashola want to teargas.....the patients or the doctors? Have the doctors embarked on any street protests or destroyed any equipment in the hospitals?
This attidture is as bad, if not worse than, GEJ deploying soldiers at Ojota during the subsidy protests. Can you imagine what this Fashola would do to people if there were State Police in Nigeria?

I pity the loss of deaths, but the doctors must be encouraged to challenge the dictatorial non-sense of this Fashola govt. He must he held responsible for the deaths in the hospitals. He can afford to say he has sacked the doctors because he does not care for the common masses in the state. His antecedents show it. People now regret voting for him!

Lagosians must hold him responsible for the loss of lives from this current strike(after the doctors had resumed from their 3-day warning strike).

Lagos State allocations were with-held for almost 3 years by OBJ, but Tinubu was able to manage the funds of the govt successfully without sacking a single worker. And he did not surchange any professional body/workers.
It was the accumulatede with-held allocations that was later released by Yar'Dua to Fashola which he(Fashola) used to do a few roads (in his first two years) that made some myopic people to start hailing him blindly. Now we know the true character of the person we have as governor.

I am not a doctor, but common-sense and sense of maturity should prevail in any reasonable govt. In my days at Ife(OAU), you would have to 'die' to be a medical doctor.....right from level 2/3, you would have to sacrifice your social, family and other aspects of your life in-order to be able to read and pass your medial/clinical exams. And you would do it for almost 7-8years! And you cannot pass by scoring grade D neither can you graduate if you are a Third-Class or ordinary Pass material. You must be at First Class level, or close. And they hardly went on break/holidays.....always staying behind in school for practicals/clinicals while some of us from other courses e.g Law(Fashola's colleagues) were busy holidaying at home or traveling, playing football, or chasing girl/boyfriends etc! Add to that the cost of very expensive medical textbooks.
How would you now feel if a foolish governor starts comparing you with some civil servants who barely spent 4 years in the University and managed to pass with loads of grades C and D

I am not saying medical doctors are more intelligent or more brilliant than other professionals.No. But they put in more sacrifice during their studies in the university(I saw that when I was at Ife)so they deserve some respect, especially when their jobs have to do with saving human lives and the risk associated with the job(e.g contacting dangerous diseasesrom patient in the course of their work)

onyxo76: now that they have been sacked i can bet most of them will not reapply...most will just focus on making moves to leave the profession for other fruitful ventures. a lot of doctors i know are already into other forms of income generating businesses,those who decide to practise will get good offers as consultants elsewhere probably in caribbean or south africa... so who loses at the end of the day?
i really don't envy the doctor's lifestyle- no friends, social life, family life non existent, no church,no holidays... i understand that they are inhuman no thanks to being caged for over 1 month at the clinic and just going home to change clothes... i bet we will all behave the same way if we work like they do...why will i go through all these rigours of training to be a doctor and get maybe 150000 per month ,when the woman who owns a supermarket on my street makes more than they earn in a month...

clip:



The 150,000 is a lot of money. Considering the fact that most of them work per hour and work in three of four hospitals. That means about 450,000 to 600,000 per month

Koolking: Why didn't the govt negotiate before now. I wonder how sacking these docs was a way forward to the whole imbroglio. The govt showed arrogance in the whole issue. I thought they had replacement if it comes to worst. Negotiating now with the sacked workers will complicate the whole situation. Apparently, the striking workers had anticipated the worst from the govt going by their non-penchant for negotiation from the onset. Why are we known to take pleasure in doing first thing last? The govt will soon be held by the jugular. let's see who laugh last in season II

onyxo76: that 150000 is all they make from all the 3-4 hospitals they work in...i have an uncle and he earns 350 naira per hour!!!and can't even afford to buy a nigerian used car!!!! so much for this proffesional slavery...even i as an IT consaultant earn twice what he earns... Poor doctors!!!