The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH) have said that they would not abandon their strike plans.
MDCAN threatened to strike on April 12 in a letter to COOUTH’s CMD, Dr Joe Akabuike, if the state government’s pledge to boost its members’ pay was not honored by the CMD.
According to the letter, the government failed to follow the agreement it struck with the medical union, which was signed by the chapter chairman and secretary, Prof George Emechebe and Dr Bernard Ochiagu, respectively.
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The letter read, “Recall that the Anambra state government promised to pay all doctors working with the state good salaries. To be convinced this promise was fulfilled, the MDCAN COOUTH chapter signed an agreement with the hospital management Board in January 2020 for an improved pay package.
“As part of the bargain, the hospital management commenced the payment of the new salary emolument at 70% implementation and pleaded with the MDCAN COOUTH Chapter that a full (100% CONMESS) automatically be effective by January 2021.
“However, the payment of 100% CONMESS did not commence as promised, and the members were appealed to, to be patient in January 2022. As a responsible government that does not play with the health of her citizens, additional subventions were released to the hospital management, to make sure health workers were adequately remunerated.
“To Our greatest chagrin, when the February and March 2022 salaries were paid, what our esteemed members received was far below their expectation, and the shortfalls were not also paid.
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“It is disheartening, to say the least, that the CMD turned around and labelled the document generated by the hospital management board an illegal document. The CMD also claimed that whoever signed such an agreement did so in error.”
The group in its resolution had said: “That the hospital management should fully implement the 100% CONMESS as agreed with the hospital management board effective from January 2022. That the MDCAN congress insists that the areas of the shortfall be paid. That the congress is hereby giving a 21 days notice to the Hospital management to comply with the above demand, failing to do so, we will proceed on total and indefinite strike action.”
Just three days to the commencement of the strike action, Emechebe has said there was no going back on the decision.
When Anaedoonline.ng contacted him on Friday, he confirmed that the body is still very ready to go on strike after the expiration of the period given to the hospital management.
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“The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike has waded into the matter, but a common ground has not yet been reached. We are not relenting on the commencement of the strike once the time elapses, but for now, we are still holding a joint meeting with the commissioner and the CMD,” he said.
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