LAGOS State governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday recalled the 788 doctors sacked by his administration for proceeding on strike. The sack notice was served on the affected doctors on May 4, 2012.
The resolution to recall the sacked doctors was the outcome of a closed door meeting between Governor Fashola and the national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, (ACN), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Briefing newsmen shortly after the meeting, the former governor said, “I have been meeting with the governor and the news is the fact that I have brought the appeal of all the leadership of the party and well-meaning Nigerians and other organisations who are committed to the welfare of our people for him to be more flexible, for him to really look at the issue of the doctors on strike critically and I can announce to you that he has agreed to suspend the question of the dismissal of those doctors.
“I have not seen the problem where we don’t have solution. He has agreed to suspend the dismissal and advised that they should go back to their work. To follow the procedure, get back to their jobs, I don’t see a point of no return here and since people are the cornerstone of the progressive policy of the state, I want to thank the governor for looking at it from the point of view of the people.
“We can solve all those problems; I don’t want to comment further until all parties respect this outcome. The governor, all along, has not been impossible. It’s a question of the institution that we all have developed. He has repeated it several times, the hiring and firing of the doctors is in the hands of the Health Service Commission. I am very much aware of it and I have to understand him.
“I have reviewed with even the honourable commissioner concerned and I don’t see any area that is irresolvable to avoid outright dismissal and since some of them have considered the fact that [are at the centre of] their professional calling, their Hippocratic Oath, [is to protect] the lives and the welfare of our people, both old and young, and we are trying to build great health care system in the state and I don’t see why we can’t resolve it and he has agreed to be more flexible and be more accommodating and be the leader for all. From the leadership of the party and the state, I want to thank him specifically for that understanding this afternoon.”
Responding, Fashola thanked the party leaders and members of various labour organisations in the country for their mediatory role in the crisis generated by the strike and dismissal of the doctors.
He said the issues that resulted in the impasse were more of disputes about institutions on how to provide better health care for the people, saying that he could not close his ears to the appeal made by all concerned, including citizens in the state to ensure a resolution to the crisis.
He added, “It is now left for the doctors to return to their locations and to regularise their status with the health service commission and I hope that in the
interest of our people, they will seize this opportunity of this olive branch and let us get on with developmental work that we are tasked with at this time.”
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