Posted on: Tue 31-12-2013

THE ministry of health has urged doctors to be patient for the 2014 budget to be passed so that government could fulfill some of their demands. Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health, Amb Sani Bala made the plea in Abuja, urging the doctors under the Nigerian Medical Association ( NMA) to shelve their planned full blown strike scheduled for January 6,2014.

He said: “Some of them are things that cannot be done immediately. There are things that require budgetary allocation; money. And, we are in the end of the year. The year, financially, is almost over. Therefore, we cannot say yes, we are going to do these immediately. They are part and parcel of the government. They are civil servants, they know procedure of governance. So, we are expecting them to be more understanding and we ask for more cooperation on their part.

“It is not that government is saying no to their demands; no, we are doing a lot. They are part of the process and they see what we have been doing and we are taking them along. Every stage, they are aware.It is just for them to be more patient. This is the end of the year; there is nothing anybody can do. 2014 budget has just been presented to the National Assembly, and until it is passed, nobody can do anything; that is the reality. We expect NMA to take this into consideration. We have always been commending their maturity and their sense of patriotism. I expect that high sense of maturity to prevail in this circumstance.”

The doctors had yesterday called off a five day warning strike. Some of their requests include  compliance with professional hierarchy; correction of alleged inaccuracies in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS; greater commitment to universal health coverage and general infrastructure upgrade in Nigerian public hospitals.

The Nigerian Medical Association ( NMA) has directed doctors to resume at their various stations yesterday  after a five day warning strike to press home their demands. In line with the spirit of the Yuletide NMA said  yesterday that the strike would be put on hold today but would resume if government fails to resolve pending issues.

President of the Association, Dr Osahon Enabulele, said in a statement yesterday: “The leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) wishes to inform the general public that Nigerian doctors in the public health sector will resume services from tomorrow, Monday December 23,  2013. This is in line with her earlier promise to give prime consideration to the yuletide season in the prosecution of her warning strike action and to give another opportunity for the government to concretely resolve all the demands of the Nigerian Medical Association for which she first issued a 21day ultimatum to government on the 2nd of September, 2013.

“Accordingly, the President of the Nigerian Medical Association calls on all Nigerian doctors in the public health sector to resume full services with effect from 8am on Monday 23rd December, 2013.” He went on: “We also wish to use this opportunity to remind government that Nigerian doctors shall not hesitate to commence a full blown strike action from 8am on Monday, 6th January 2014, if government does not satisfactorily resolve the demands of the Nigerian Medical Association. We therefore call on the Local, State and Federal levels of Government to take note of this notice.

“While appreciating the great understanding and solidarity exhibited by Nigerians during the warning strike action, we fervently call on all well-meaning Nigerians to assist in the resolution of the demands of the NMA, amongst which are the resolution of the unmitigated injustices done to Nigerian doctors over time, appropriate funding of Nigeria’s healthcare system and expansion of Universal health coverage to cover all Nigerians, health infrastructural upgrade.”

By Emeka Anuforo

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