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Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has threatened to sack striking Doctors in the state if they refuse to resume work immediately.
He stated this at a a symposium organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress to mark the birthday of a foremost Nigerian Labour leader, Comrade Hassan Sumonu in Osogbo, the state capital. According to Aregbesola, efforts to dialogue with the doctors have failed since the doctors insist they are not part of the Nigerian Labour Congress(NLC).
The threats comes amid a more than three months old strike action embarked upon by doctors in the state which members of the Nigerian Medical Association in the state and resident doctors at the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital Osogbo.
But in a sensitization letter to the public, the striking doctors said they have endured enough for the state.
the letter, written by the Osun State Association of Medical and Dental Officers an affiliate of Osun State NMA, and the professional body of doctors in Osun State Civil Service reads:
A NEWSLETTER FOR THE SENSITIZATION OF THE PUBLIC ON THE OSAMDO STRIKE.
The Osun State Association of Medical and Dental Officers is an Affiliate of Osun State NMA, and the professional body of doctors in Osun State Civil Service.
It is important to reiterate that we are not part of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) or any other labour group in the state.
We also wish to state for the records that we disown as extremely ungodly, the MOU signed by a faction of the labour unions in the state, which does not hold the government of the state responsible to dispense the bailout fund for the payment of salaries and pensions, the only purpose for which it was granted. We cannot be bound by such MOU.
We have been writing to Mr Governor for several months now, with the hope that he would give hears to our calls and use his good office to prevent a collapse of the health system in the state and save the good people of Osun State from unnecessary hardships.
We have been telling the Governor that owing workers (and doctors) several months salaries is not compatible with the delivery of any form of healthcare delivery.
Knowing that the good people of Osun State (which include us) will be at the receiving end of an imminent collapse of the health system, we left no stone unturned trying to salvage the situation.
Through the Osun State NMA, we got all the medical elders in the state to prevail on the government to avert crisis, we even brought the septuagenarian and centenary President of the Nigeria Medical Association to appeal to the Governor to save the situation, but not even was he granted audience.
We did not stop at these, neither did we relent. We continued to appeal to well-meaning Nigerians to help save the system in the State, and to prevent the people from suffering
unnecessary health hardships or even loss of lives.
In the end, our cries got the listening ears of our President, Mohamadu Buhari, who we must appreciate for his concern and dedication to the situation in Osun State.
He did everything to ensure that there was no reason at all why workers who should be providing essential and life saving services to the people of Osun State, should be kept hungry and physiologically under productive.
The release of the bailout fund of N34.98 billion, the second largest granted to any state in Nigeria, is only the climax of several efforts made by President Buhari to prevent the collapse of systems providing services to the people of the state.
All this while we kept faith in the government of state and waited patiently, daring to believe that the situation on hand was that of inability to pay rather than unwillingness to pay, even when publicly available information was only sufficient enough to suggest otherwise.
Now the bailout has been granted; and it is to the extent that it covers all pensions and salary arrears, including cooperatives and pension moneys which had been deducted from workers’ salaries for several months without remitting them to appropriate quarters.
The loans that were perceived to have been chocking the state have been converted to long term bonds, which naturally translates to immediate and drastic improvement in the allocation that gets to the state.
The internally generated revenue (IGR) of the state is claimed to have improved to about N1.5 billion per month, and we were not told anything happened to it.
Worthy of note also is the excuse during the Goodluck administration that the unfriendly government at the centre that denied the state access to several monetary advantages contributed to the quagmire the state has found itself in. Now that the situation has changed, it stands to reason that such numerous advantages have been restored.
One therefore ought to reasonably believe that the finances of Osun State is now in one of its most prosperous era (even with considerable breathing space for planning and development).
Why then are workers in the State being owed over five (5) months salaries? Why are several being owed over 27months government contribution and another 27months of pension contribution deducted from salaries but yet to be remitted? Why are we being denied of our future?
The government’s “no money” claim is a mere psychologically persuasive appeal to the feelings of people; one which can never be defended with hard facts.
All these happened against a backdrop of a poorly funded health system in the state (healthcare funding looks beyond hospital buildings to focus on manpower and equipment, which are the real drivers of the healthcare system).
Ekiti State is a state that cannot be regarded as bigger than Osun State either in terms of population of in natural resources. Years ago, many people from that state depended on us for their healthcare. However, with constant investment in personnel over the years, they no longer look up to us.
Today they have more (and also far better paid) doctors than Osun State which has a greater population.
For over five (5) years now, we have accepted far less pay than our colleagues in neighbouring states. We have endured this long because of the health of the masses and also to honour the Hippocratic Oath we took, which in fairness did not anticipate inequity, servitude and injustice to practitioners.
We have waited long for a time of improvement in the finances of the state to demand that parity be restored to what we get for our services, relative to our colleagues. We have waited long, patiently and faithfully.
Contrary to what the government would have the government believe, this is the time that the finance of the state is doing better than it did in the last couple of years.
This is the time that Mr. Governor has to show commitment to the healthcare of the people. This is the time for him to invest in healthcare personnel so that the severe and chronic understaffing problems of the healthcare centres will be ameliorated.
This is the time to release the running costs of hospitals which have been withheld
For months now, so that the hospitals can truly serve the people. This is the time to adequately motivate workers to deliver quality care to the people.
For the obvious reasons as already stated, we have been left with no other alternative than to embark on an industrial action, painful as it is, to emphasize our demands.
This is a course of action we have taken, and shall continue in until the government relates with us on the basis of fairness, equity and justice.
Section 14 (2b) of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria confers the responsibility of the health of health of the citizens of Osun State on Mr. Governor.
He therefore should be held responsible if the health of any citizen fails, albeit preventable, under the watch of His Excellency.
We however continue to appeal to all the citizens of Osun State, home and abroad, and indeed, all well meaning Nigerians to help save our dear state from this debacle.
Dr. I. A. Adekunle Dr. F.O. Dauda
Chairman Publicity Secretary