Lagos evicts sacked doctors

Posted by admin Headlines, Lagos, State News Friday, May 11th, 2012

Last minute effort to resolve the feud between Lagos State government and medical doctors in its service failed yesterday as a meeting held by the national body of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and the state officials in a bid to find a lasting solution to the feud ended in a deadlock.

The stalemate is coming even as more sacked doctors continue to quit their quarters in deference to the eviction notice served them by the state government, which was expected to have elapsed by 5am yesterday.
Speaking yesterday at a press conference held at the NMA Secretariat in Lagos, the national chairman of the body, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, told newsmen that the body of elders constituted by the NMA to play a mediatory role on the way out of the crisis on Thursday met with the state governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola who showed commitment to resolving the matter, and consequently directed them to the Head of Service (HOS).
He, however, said that it was regrettable as the body could not take anything home as the HOS was bent on the state’s earlier decision, saying the matter was beyond him.

His words: “The governor expressed his commitment to the resolution and directed the Head of Service to meet with the NMA to resolve the matter, with a promise to faithfully implement the outcome of our engagement with the HOS.
“Sadly, after four hours of engagement with the HOS, the Commissioner of Health, Permanent Secretaries and other officers of the state government, the initiated dialogue ended in a deadlock occasioned by the fixated and vexatious position of the HOS that the Lagos State government had resolved to discipline her doctors the way she had done it and, that the matter was beyond him”.

Enabalele also frowned at the alleged forceful eviction of the sacked doctors, saying the action “smacks of military dictatorship, totalitarianism and democratic insensateness”, adding that the national body will soon meet to decide the way forward.
Also reacting to the eviction, Dr. Olumuyiwa Odusote, chairman NMA Lagos State chapter, insisted that the eviction was illegal, as due process was not followed.

-Sunwp_posts