Kogi doctors, pharmacists begin strike

02.01.2008

Medical doctors and pharmacists in Kogi State public hospitals on Monday began an indefinite strike to protest the partial implementation of the harmonised salary structure for health workers.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the state-owned hospitals and clinics were being manned by nurses and other auxiliary medical staff.

Chairman of the state chapter of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Joseph Iduh, told NAN that the strike was inevitable as NMA and Pharmacists Society of Nigeria (PSN) in the state had exhausted avenues for a peaceful resolution of the issue.

Iduh said Governor Ibrahim Idris had on several occasions agreed to implement the salary structure fully, saying that “he has never said no, but the only problem is the bureaucracy.”

The chairman explained that on October 29, 2007, the governor approved that the harmonised salary structure should be implemented from Novmber 1, when the cost implication was worked out.

On the partial implementation of the salaryby 50 per cent, Iduh said it was “very unfair and unrealistic because I don’t think any doctor in Kogi State will accept it since the struggle had been on for 18 months.”

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Fred Achem, appealed to the doctors and pharmacists to call off the strike in the interest of their patients and progress of the state.

He said at a news conference that the government had agreed to pay the balance to all categories of health workers from January. According to him, the government was negotiating with all other associations in the health sector for amicable resolution of the impasse.