Lagos — Lagosians may be in for an unhealthy start to the new year as the face-off between the doctors and the state government has taken a new turn, with the Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, asking doctors planning to embark on strike today to resign their appointments.

Idris told a news conference yesterday that some members of the state's Medical Guild were willing to continue doing their jobs and were not interested in joining the strike.

Members of the guild had threatened to go on strike after the expiration of a 21-day ultimatum to the state government.

"We do not want anybody to increase the mortality rate of the citizens of the state," the commissioner was quoted as saying by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said that the state government would not succumb to any threat or intimidation from the doctors.

Idris said that there was a split among members of the guild as well as the members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) "which showed that not all the members of both groups were interested in the strike".

"We want to assure those health workers that will be willing to perform their functions of their security as contained under the oath we all swear to," he said.

He accused some health workers of politicising the strike and fanning the embers of disunity, saying that the strike was not ideal for the medical profession.

Idris recalled that the guild's requests were being looked into by the state's executive council with a view to addressing them in a comprehensive manner.

"The state Ministry of Health had presented all these requests formally before the state executive council and they would soon be looked into," he stated.

The commissioner also gave an assurance that the government was ready to hold dialogue with all stakeholders on the way forward for the improvement of health care delivery in the state.

In a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello, the government said much as it was ready to negotiate with the guild for amicable resolution of any outstanding issues, it would not succumb to "any threat or intimidation".

It declared that the strike was illegal since it did not meet the requirements of the NMA for the declaration of strike.

The government also advised members of the guild and all staff in the state's hospitals who have opted out of the planned strike to go about their lawful duties, saying the government had provided adequate security for their safety.

Idris described the planned strike as unfortunate, pointing out that majority of the issues being raised were already before the State Executive Council based on several meetings between the health ministry and members of the guild.

"All the issues now being raised by the Guild as reason for their action are issues which the present Government has been looking into in the last six weeks," the Commissioner said, explaining that between July and December last year, more than four meetings were held between the government and both the leadership and membership of the guild.

On remunerations for doctors and other medical Staff which is one of the issues being raised, Idris said the delay in taking decision on it was based on the fact that the government wanted to resolve the issue globally in the health sector and not for doctors alone.

He described as falsehood the allegation by the leadership of the Guild that doctors and other medical staff were being poorly paid, pointing out that the least paid in the health sector goes home with N85, 000 monthly while on retirement doctors are paid their salaries for life on attaining grade level 17.

The Commissioner also said the government had made mortgage arrangements for the doctors based on the state's Mortgage Scheme, adding that the arrangement included the fact that all the housing infrastructure in the health sector would be left for the use of the workforce in the sector.

"We will be the last set of people that will do anything to jeopardize the welfare of workforce in the Health Sector" the Commissioner said, adding, "What we are looking at is what will benefit the whole workforce and not just doctors".

On the issue of infrastructure, Idris said government was only being hindered by the huge financial implication in arriving at decisions on some of the hospitals.

The Commissioner described as false, the allegation that there was inadequate power supply in the state's hospitals, pointing out that the State Government has ensured that every of its hospitals have at least two stand-by generators

"I am not saying that equipment in all the hospitals is adequate, but government has plans for all the hospitals. It is an on-going thing," Idris said, adding that apart from remunerations, the government was planning other welfare packages such as training of staff.

"What the government is planning for the Health Sector is even bigger than what the guild is raising," he said.

Announcing the decision to go on strike last week, the chairman of the guild, Dr. Ibrahim Olaifa, had said the strike would be indefinite because "all the efforts to make the government to consider our demands have failed".

Patients were dying daily at the state hospitals "because the gigantic buildings lack basic life-saving facilities," he said.

He said patients often attack physicians thinking that the doctors were frustrating their recovery, "believing that the government had already provided all the necessary facilities as it is often announced in the media".

"If you take the ambulance service for example, most of the victims of severe accident cases rescued by the mobile ambulances usually die in our hospitals because basic life-saving equipment are not available," he said, adding that the poor state of the hospitals was the main issue.

"Even the most basic hospital equipment like Ambu-bags, oxygen cylinders and sunction machines were not available," he said.

However, the doctors are also demanding a pay rise and parity as in the recommendations of the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Scale.

Olaifa said the state health ministry purchased computers for its e-health practice with a huge sum of money "that would have been better utilised".