As at the time of writing this note, medical doctors in
government hospitals are on strike. This is quite unfortunate as Nigerians who
are sick have no one to attend to them. The doctors are groused because the
federal government has reneged in meeting up with the agreement they both reached
in 2013. They are clamouring for the appointment of a Surgeon-General of the Federation;
they also want a review of their hazard allowance to a whooping One hundred
thousand naira; and a host of other flimsy demands.
I have sat and thought about the present situation; I have
also tried to reason and come out with the following questions that need urgent
clarifications.
Why are doctors quick to withdraw their services at the
slightest provocation? Is it really ethical for doctors to go on strike? Again,
can policemen, prison staff, the armed forces and other essential public
servants go on strike? What will happen if the security agencies go on strike?
Are the services the security agents render as essential as that of the doctors
and other health workers?
Yes, let’s reason it. Security agents don’t go on strike
because their services are very essential to the survival of the society. If
so, why should doctors embark on strike? Is their service not essential to the
survival of the society too? Doctors, security agents, bankers, nurses, and
other health workers are what I call essential public servants. Just like the
policeman, the soldier, the prison warder, the road safety personnel, the SSS
agents etc, the doctor is an essential public servant whose service is very
essential, and he or she is naturally and ethically not supposed to embark on
strike action for whatever reason.
Think about this, what will happen if the police go on
strike? Would the society, including the doctors, sleep with their two eyes
closed? What will the situation be if the prison staff down their tools and
unman the prison gates? Will the society not collapse? Or when the armed
forces, road safety personnel, and other security staff embark on industrial
action? What will happen?
Or do the doctors think these security personnel have no
issues to iron out with the government too? They do! They have lots of issues
with the government, but the fact is that they are essential public servants, and
their primary concern is our collective good before parochial interest. To be
fair, the security agents are the most neglected among the workforce in
Nigeria. If you think I am lying, visit a police station or a prison and see
the decadence and the sorry conditions they work in. It is no news that the
security personnel sacrifice their lives for the peace and security of this
country, and afterwards, their families get nothing. Yet they don’t complain.
Our security personnel are exposed to live threatening hazards which cannot be
quantified in terms of allowances. Do you know the kind of occupational hazard
the soldier and the prison warder face?
Methinks the problem bedeviling the health sector in Nigeria
is just ego. The current strike by the doctors is as a result of their bloated
ego. If not, what has the appointment of a Surgeon-General to do with the
effective management of the nation’s hospitals? Again, how much hazard
allowance can compensate the many risks they encounter in the course of
discharging their duties? Are prison officers, policemen, soldiers and other
essential public servants not exposed to bigger hazards and risks?
Yes, it is not like I am trying to exonerate the government
from this problem, but the doctors should consider their profession as
humanitarian, just like other essential public servants. The truth is that there
is no amount of money that can compensate the risks we face in our various
endeavours. Life itself is a risk. As a prison officer, I am faced with life
threatening risks and hazards in the course of my job. Even at that, I am not
paid any hazard allowance. So for the policeman, the armed forces personnel and
other essential public servants.
Life is the ultimate. Doctors are there to save lives. They
should think twice and begin to see themselves as life-savers instead of
bureaucrats who are working to enrich their pockets only. Owing to the fact
that doctors are essential public servants, it is therefore not ethical for
them to embark on strike actions.
However, the government should sit up and provide the needs
of its workers. Government should not wait until workers go on strike before
they can address their problems. Government should be proactive and considerate
to the plight of its workforce. The current strike by the doctors should be
addressed as soon as possible so that Nigerians who are sick, like my sick mum,
can be attended to.
This is a passionate appeal to our doctors to consider the
plights of suffering Nigerians and call off the present strike, while they
continue dialoguing with government. The striking doctors should also be
realistic in some of their demands, as most of them hold no water. Just like
the security personnel who cannot down their tools, the doctors should learn to
press home their demands using other viable methods instead of resorting on
strike actions. They should consider life first before any other thing. It is
only ethical to do so.