Apologise To Nigerians - Elumelu Tells Doctors
Chairman, House
Committee on Health, Ndudi Elumelu has urged the Nigerian Medical Association
to tender an apology to all Nigerians due to the strike embarked upon by
doctors nationwide. The strike, which lasted for 55 days until it was called
off over the weekend, brought untold hardship on Nigerians.
Elumelu had
during a briefing at the National Assembly on Monday, described the doctors’
decision to stay away in the face of glaring health challenges as ‘unpatriotic.’
He said:
“The
leadership of NMA has been described as unpatriotic even by other Nigerian
doctors, as well as members of the public in view of various health challenges
confronting the nation and the scourge of Ebola virus disease, which erupted
during the strike period.
“The
committee has a final word for NMA; The NMA has suspended the strike, but it
has failed to do one thing: the NMA failed to apologise to Nigerians. The NMA
should apologise to Nigerians for all the inconveniences and lives that were
lost during the strike.”
The House
Committee Chairman on Health also berated the Federal Government for not keeping
to terms of agreements reached with the doctors. He said:
“One of such
lessons is the need to obey agreements. The law is pacta sunt servanda
meaning agreements must be obeyed. If parties had obeyed previous agreements
executed between NMA and representatives of Federal Government, the strike
would have been averted. The lesson to learn here is that we must at all times
obey contents of agreements freely entered into in order to avert crisis,” he
said.
He noted
that the new salary structure of medical doctors would reflect in next year’s
budget; and that doctors will start receiving the new salary structure from
January, 2015.
Elumelu
therefore called on the Nigerian Medical Association to call off its 55 day old
strike and return back to work.
