Not this strike

Coming on the heels of the three-week old strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) that ended on October 24, another disruption to the health sector on the scale being proposed by the NMA would have serious consequences.The NMA leadership said that the association was taking the action because the federal government had […]

Coming on the heels of the three-week old strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) that ended on October 24, another disruption to the health sector on the scale being proposed by the NMA would have serious consequences.
The NMA leadership said that the association was taking the action because the federal government had so far failed to comply with an agreement it reached with the union.
The doctors blamed the Minister of Health, Dr Onyebuchi Chukwu, for that apparent failure and asked that he be held responsible for any crisis in the health sector that might follow. Responsibility cuts both ways.
In an obviously strike-weary country, another one in the health sector should be avoided, both by those who propose it and by the government they blamed for precipitating it.
As in education, the health sector has been wracked by strikes embarked upon by different branch unions of the NMA, like the NARD for instance, and other professional organisations that operate in the sector, such as the National Union of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NUNNMW).
In a statement on the possibility of a nationwide strike beginning tomorrow, NMA President, Dr Osahon Enabulele, noted that only one aspect of the doctors’ demands articulated to the government and agreed upon earlier this year had been met. This was the re-constitution and inauguration of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN). He alleged that the government had ignored other parts of the agreement, including issues bordering on workplace conditions and alleged injustice meted out to doctors in their conditions of service, as well as funding and infrastructure and equipment upgrade in the health sector.
Dr Enabulele gave details of the various meetings the association had held with senior government officials in the last five months, including those in the Ministry of Health, with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Head of Service.
The result from all the meetings, he added, had been ‘a stalemate’.
Government officials have not stated what the sticking points might be; but whatever they are, the government must seriously consider whether it would be wise not to make attempts to stop the NMA from calling on its members to down the stethoscope and abandon hospitals, a worrying scenario with potentially devastating consequences.
It is not clear why the NMA leadership would single out the Minister of Health for blame in this particular instance; Enabulele did not elaborate either in his statement. But it is almost traditional for striking workers in public agencies to blame the supervising minister for alleged failures to address their grievances, usually welfare issues. This is particularly true in the education and health sectors.
In the NMA case, there appears to be a lack of communication between union officials and representatives of the government over how the demands of the NMA can be addressed.
The government also has a somewhat blemished reputation of going back on agreements its officials had signed with union members. This tendency should be checked, because it could lead to a serious lack of faith by other parties in agreements that it reaches with them, which could cause many other problems.
It is important that the Minister of Health or his senior officials meet NMA leadership and agree a settlement to avert the strike from taking place.
NMA officials should also be a little bit more patient and get the position of government on their demands before deciding whether to call the strike; this would not be a sign of weakness, but an expression of their sympathy for the hundreds of thousands of patients, some with life-threatening ailments, who may be affected if they doctors withdraw their services from tomorrow.