Doctors Strike: Time For A Rethink

As the strike action embarked upon by
medical doctors under the aegis of the
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) takes its toll on human lives in the country, Nigerians are beginning to question the propriety of their action and the urgency of their demands.
From all indications, they appear to have lost public support and sympathy. Going by the current disposition of the Budget Office, the Federal Government may not accede to their request for pay rise soon owing to some practical economic challenges.
Indeed, the Director-General of the Budget Office, Bright Okogu warned penultimate Monday of dire financial and economic consequences for the country if it continues to accede to demands for pay rise by workers.
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting convened by members of the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Health at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, Okogu caution against acceding to the demand for pay rise by the striking doctors. That the wage bill of 1.2 million workers under Federal Government pay roll rose to N1.8 trillion out of the N4.6 trillion budgeted for the nation in 2014.
Okogu further stated that there were feelers that other stakeholders in the health sector like nurses, midwives, pharmacists and laboratory technologists are already warming up to embark on a nationwide strike the moment government accedes to demands of the striking doctors which includes outstanding allowances amounting to N13 billion.
Inspite of the high regard for medical doctors, they have embarked on strike more than any other professional group in the past five years. Sadly, they are also the only group that has been impervious to public appeals in spite of the belief that their job is mostly humanitarian.
It is unimaginable and in fact, preposterous for medical doctors to insist, that they be paid much higher than other medical personnel. It is common knowledge that they can do very little without the expertise of other health professionals like nurses, laboratory scientists, physiotherapists among others.
As the death toll rises by the day, doctors remain unperturbed. If not for patriotic or moral commitments, why the cry of fellow Nigerians fail to move them beat the imagination of many.
The Tide is saddened by the facts that as lives are lost, these people are glad to reap bountifully from their private practices. Giving the man-hours lost, much against the grain of the very etiquette underguarding the hypocritic oath, doctors in Nigeria have become unbelievable.
In advanced countries that Nigerians easily refer to, doctors do not proceed on strikes with reckless abandon. Indeed, there is no negotiation that they could not have had without embarking on strike. Also clear is the fact that doctors are not always the highest paid medical officers , they are also not the only ones to head hospitals.
Albeit, the time for our Oliver Twist medical doctors to have a rethink has come, their bloated self image like that of the lecturers – who in 2009 under the auspices of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) shot up the Nation’s wage bill from N857 billion to N1.8 trillion.
While we call on government to kick-start a programme that will ensure the training of more doctors and quickly too, the reward system in the country must be urgently reviewed. Indeed, we must place premium on professionals instead of political office holders, whose take home has tended to set the template for value allocation in the country.
A situation where a councilor, which is about the lowest political office, earns more than a doctor or professor or even a journalist is un-acceptable. For a councilor with little or no training to earn more also serves as disincentive for education and career development.
Even so, Nigeria is at a cross road when all patriots must make sacrifices until the current crises are over. There is very little a government can do when it is pressed from all sides. Apart from the fact that it could be overwhelmed, the outbreak of Ebola should make these medical doctors suspend their strike unconditionally until the coast is clear