NO fewer than four lives had been lost as the strike declared by the Lagos doctors under the aegis of the Medical Guilds entered its fifth day today, Saturday Tribune has gathered.
According to hospital sources, two people lost their lives on Tuesday at the Lagos Island General Hospital while two corpses were said to have been moved out of the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital(LASUTH) on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Lagos state government has started recruiting new doctors to replace the striking ones in order to prevent needless loss of lives.
The chairman, Medical Advisory Committee to the Lagos State governor, Dr Ore Falomo, who disclosed this at a press conference on Friday, said more than a quarter of the striking doctors were newly recruited by the state.
He accused the doctors of being inconsiderate, disrespectful and fraudulent, saying that their perpetual strike actions were capable of putting the medical profession which respects the sanctity of human life into disrepute.
“There will be replacement of the striking doctors in our hospitals. The NYSC doctors will be deployed to hospitals to take care of emergency services while doctors in private practice will provide free medical services in public hospitals in the state free of charge. The striking doctors should stop playing God,” he said.
“We are not justifying strike or no strike, but this is a noble profession that has to do with lives and this is why we are saying that there are better ways to achieve their aims and objectives instead of embarking on strike at the slightest opportunity. Nobody can pay doctors enough, but they should change their methodology,” Falomo said.
The body also advised that henceforth, there should be an undertaking by House Officers and Resident Doctors not to engage in strike actions.
“We believe Medical Doctors should be guided by the Hippocratic Oaths sworn to and exhaust all possible avenues for negotiation and lobbying without paralysing healthcare services in entirety,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State government, in a press release, noted that the doctors, on Tuesday, trooped to Island Maternity Hospital, where they disrupted services and, in the process, inconveniencing recuperating patients, in their attempt to stop some of their colleagues who refused to join their illegal action, before they were dispersed by security agencies.
According to the release, their major grouse with government was a frivolous demand for “Teaching Allowance” for House Officers, who are doctors-in-training, still being taught the practical aspects of the job to prepare them well for the challenges of the caring profession. House Officers will only be eligible to proceed on National Youth Service Corps based on their success at this Housemanship.
The Doctors are also demanding an inconsiderate increase in their salaries without recourse to the other professionals in the public service system, despite currently receiving the full Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), by which the least paid among them (the House Officers), receive over N173,000.00 monthly
The government accused the doctors of exploiting every flimsy excuse to divert patients from government hospitals to their private clinics, most of which are located close to government hospitals under the guise of ill-conceived strike.
It assured the public that normalcy will soon be restored, stating that, death of citizens of Lagos will no longer be part of the culture of the health service.
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