Against the background of the on-going industrial action by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), a renowned medical expert and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Emeritus Prof. Adeoye Adeniyi, has said that strike action is an anathema in the medical profession.

Prof. Adeniyi, who made this observation during a chat with Unilorin Bulletin penultimate Wednesday (July 2, 2014), noted that the price of embarking on a strike by medical doctors is always high, resulting in loss of lives, tragedies and suffering.

He said, “In my own opinion and in my profession, strike is anathema. We can do all kinds of things, we can disagree but I believe strongly that doctors should not go on strike,”

The former Vice-Chancellor said, “Fundamentally, I think doctors should not go on strike, but the situation in Nigeria is that there is a failure of communication among the doctors and the other health givers in the country. It is also unfortunate that doctors have to resort to strike to make their points heard and to give them what they regard as their rights.”

 

According to him, “there has to be a meeting of minds between the health givers and the government. I believe that the root causes of the discontent have to be properly evaluated, assessed and considered and it should be possible to arrive at situations where strikes are not called by doctors.”

Prof. Adeniyi said, “If it is possible for the government to fulfil its pledges and promises to the doctors, there should be no need for strikes”. He stressed the need for a restructuring of the primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services provided in the country.

The renowned medical teacher said that the primary and secondary healthcare services in particular should be properly looked into, adding that “the tertiary health institutions should be looked after to enable them to play their roles appropriately”. He pointed out that presently, some of the tertiary health institutions in the country are functioning as primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare centres, noting that, all of these have created a crisis situation in the health sector.