The Nigerian Medical Association has directed doctors in states that have failed to implement the 100 per cent application of Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to proceed on an indefinite strike from Monday.
This was declared by the NMA President, Dr. Omede Idris, on Thursday in Abuja at a press conference. Idris said the decision to withdraw doctors’ services was reached at the emergency delegates meeting of the NMA held on December 11, 2010 in Abuja.
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He said, “At that meeting, it was resolved that the states that were yet to initiate the 100 per cent application of CONMESS should be given up till 10th of January 2011 or face an indefinite withdrawal of services.
“All concerned states were duly notified and for the avoidance of doubt, all federal health institutions within the concerned states will participate in solidarity withdrawal of services.”
Specifically, Idris said the governments of the five South-East states had refused to negotiate the CONMESS with the doctors. He noted that they were the states paying the poorest salaries to doctors.
He said, “The South-East states have the worst medical services in the country. They are not even ready to negotiate with us.”
He stated that some of the governors pleaded that their states could not afford the CONMESS, wondering how they arrived at the decision when they were yet to compute the cost to their states .
He said the NMA had exhausted all avenues of dialogue, explaining that it had no alternative than to call out its members on a fresh strike.
“The state governments, if they really want to serve the people, can use the money lost to corruption to provide services to the people,” he added.
About 10 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja have implemented the CONMESS. While some other states are negotiating a lower figure, others have refused to discuss the matter with the doctors.
Some states like Abia and Adamawa have less than 100 doctors in their general hospitals.
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