Lagos State Chapter of the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) has knocked the Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led government over the planned doctors’ strike set to commence on Monday, July 13, 2020.
The party expresses solidarity with the Medical Guild, the affiliate of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), representing doctors employed by the Lagos State Government on the three-day warning strike.
In a statement issued by Comrade Rufus Olusesan and Comrade Monsuru Shoyombo, Chairman and Publicity Secretary respectively, the party salutes the doctors who are embarking on the strike after the expiration of 21 days’ ultimatum and an additional two weeks of grace given to the Lagos State Government for their resilience to struggle for better working conditions needed especially to confront the rising cases of Coronavirus disease in Lagos State in particular.
The party calls on the All Progressives Congress-led Lagos State Government to meet the demands of the Medical Guild which includes the wage disparity between the federal and Lagos doctors, the issues of COVID-19 hazard allowances and inducement allowances Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) approved by the federal government but which Lagos State Government has not approved to her doctors.
The Guild also complained that doctors were being infected and re-infected while there was shortage of doctors in the health facilities and Lagos State Government is not taking action to resolve the issues.
The Party condemns the situation where the doctors working in the COVID-19 isolation centres are still being owed two months’ salaries. It also condemns the situation where some of them have been unceremoniously disengaged without being paid and despite the rising cases of Covid-19 which mean that more doctors and health workers should be employed especially in Lagos which is the epicentre of the infection.
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The SPN knocks the Lagos State Government over the issue of shortage of doctors in the health facilities with no substantive action taken by the state government to resolve the issue.
SPN submits that the disposition of the Lagos State Government to the welfare of doctors and other health workers amidst the rising cases of Coronavirus confirms the real picture of a reactionary and anti-progressive party in power, which does not value the safety of the working people, including Frontline health workers.
It calls on the State Chapters of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and United Labour Congress (ULC) to extend solidarity with the striking doctors and other frontline health workers in the battle for better pay and working conditions amidst the scourge of the Coronavirus disease. SPN calls on the Medical Guild not to limit its struggle to a sit-at-home action but prepare for public sensitisation activities to win the confidence and support of the larger layers of the working people.
SPN calls for a joint struggle between medical doctors and other health workers’ union in the state with the support of the broader labour movement for adequate funding and democratic management in order to ensure adequate welfare provision for all health professionals, provide necessary facilities and reposition the public health sector to serve the needs of the working people and the poor.
SPN reiterates its call for a mass working people’s political alternative and calls on all those who are tired of the anti-poor parties of APC and PDP to join the SPN as a step towards the building of a mass working people’s political alternative.
