5th November, 2010
In this interview by Simon Ateba and Busayo Amoran, the Vice Chairman of the Lagos State Medical Guild, Dr. Taofik Majolagbe, says that doctors are ready to resume work if the government begins negotiations with them.
The Lagos State Government says it has made some offers to you yet you are going on with the strike, is this a political issue?
I think it will be sad and unfortunate for anybody to label this a political issue. It’s like I’m asking for my rights, I want to get paid and the next thing I hear is that I’m used by someone. I think that is actually running away from the truth of the matter at hand. The government has not made a single offer to the Medical Guild in Lagos. If the offer is made, we will be talking about accepting the offer or not. All the government has said is that it wants the doctors to end strike and I don’t think that’s enough.
How do you feel about lives being lost?
Even us, we have doctors who have lost very close relations because they could not get the attention that they needed. But a quick reminder here is that the responsibility to take care of the people is actually that of the government. The government has the responsibility to provide healthcare services. We are just tools in the hands of the government. And it is important that you must get your tools up and working. The problem here now is that that tool needs to be attended to. This strike is actually long overdue and we are begging the government and also pleading with Lagosians that let the government sit down with us to resolve this issue. And I am sure by now, the government has all the calculations that it needs to use and it can sit in a table within one hour and resolve this issue.
What are actually your demands?
Our demands are the implementation the consolidated salary scheme for all doctors working in Lagos State. We also have certain corrections that we expect the government to also address. The issue of the recall of our immediate past Chairman, Dr. Ibrahim Olaifa must also be resolved. There is also the issue of the application fee. But as we speak, we haven’t had a call from the government.
What’s the way forward?
We are hoping that this government that has always been there for the people will continue to be for the people irrespective of the challenges. We believe this government will do something as soon as possible.
But what do you expect to do if the government does not accede to your demands?
That’s what we have been doing. We actually withdrew our services after discussions and plea with the government failed. I believe the government needs to do what is right and we will continue to appeal to the government. We also want the public, those in position of authority to continue to appeal to them so that they can understand and feel the plight of the people. You know our demands are so simple. Let me give you information, the government has said that our demands are not outrageous and even the government believes that we should actually get more than we are asking for. But we are not saying that they should pay now even if we believe that they can pay now, but what we are saying is that please give us this commitment on when you want to pay and we will consider it and move forward.
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