Editorial

Even in normal times, doctors strike is a big issue because of the implications for life and death. That resident doctors in Enugu State could contemplate going on strike at this time makes the action all the more curious.

All over the world, doctors and health personnel are being called to service as a result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that is ravaging humanity.

So far, over 3,398,458 people have tested positive for the disease worldwide, with about 1,080,101 treated and discharged while it has claimed at least 239,443 lives.

Since the index case was recorded in Lagos on February 27, Nigeria has lost at least 68 persons to the pandemic, while 351 others have recovered, out of about 2,170 confirmed cases as at Saturday morning.

The continued rise in the statistics as more testing centres are being opened in the country lends credence to the fear that we still have a long way to go.

So, Nigeria too has intensified response to the pandemic. Individuals and corporate organisations have been chipping in to assist in cushioning the effects of the hardships occasioned by COVID-19 lockdowns. Indeed, many people, including doctors, have volunteered to assist in combating the disease.

All of these make the strike by resident doctors in Enugu State now ill-timed. The doctors, through the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, ESUT-Parklane, told the chief medical director in a letter that the strike would have been avoided if the state government had honoured its agreements on their Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and paid the balance alongside their last month salaries. They then began an indefinite strike after collecting their salaries on April 25.

The state government has however declared the strike illegal because, according to it, the doctors did not give the mandatory 21-day notice.

It added that the strike was also in contempt of the National Industrial Court, Enugu, which had restrained the doctors from going on strike, pending the determination of the matter.

Apparently the court too viewed the strike in that light, hence, its declaration, on Wednesday, that the strike was ‘illegal and contemptuous’.

It asked the state government to press contempt proceedings against the doctors if it so wished. We hope the matter will not degenerate to this level.

Workers are entitled to a living wage. Doctors in particular deserve to be well remunerated because of the nature of their job. But then, the issue of emoluments is subject to what individual governments can afford.

However, if, as the doctors claimed, the state government had agreed to pay the CONMESS in full, the government should take the doctors into confidence by explaining to them the dynamics that have now made it impossible for it to honour that promise.

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Beyond the rigmarole of who is right and who is wrong, however, is the more important question of human life that is involved in this matter.

We therefore urge the doctors to first call off their strike and join in the onerous task of catering to the needs of the people in these trying times.

The state government seemed to have demonstrated some good faith by not only paying the salaries of the doctors alongside those of its other public servants but also the 25 percent of the doctors’ basic salary as COVID-19 allowance.

It went a step further to approve a life insurance package for all its health workers as a result of the added burden imposed by COVID-19.

Both parties should sheath their swords in the interest of the ordinary citizens of the state who, like the proverbial grass, are the ones that will suffer in the fight involving the two elephants.

Without doubt, there is the need for the parties to meet again after the dust of COVID-19 would have settled, with a view to agreeing on what is realistic in the circumstance.

The state government should place all the cards on the table and also ensure that its officials’ lifestyles reflect what it tells the people about the state’s financial situation.

The truth of the matter is that things will no longer be the same again  in several countries given the ramifying impact of the coronavirus on the global economy, unless the unexpected happens. Several equations are bound to change.

Once again, we urge the doctors to call off the strike immediately; that is the least  they owe humanity. The timing of the strike is the reason many people are reading political and other meanings into the doctors’ action.

This is not good enough. Doctors’ strike at this time is an ill-wind that blows no one any good. The doctors should remember the Hippocratic oath they took to place the sanctity of human lives above every other consideration.