I Lack Power to Reverse Doctors’ Dismissal, Says Fashola

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, yesterday said he lacked powers under the law to overturn the dismissal of the 788 medical doctors recently sacked for allegedly embarking on illegal strike action.
The governor’s clarification on the sacked doctors also came on a day the state’s chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) described as mere propaganda, the claim by the state government that it had re-instated the sacked doctors.
But Fashola, who spoke on a live state-wide televised panel discussion with Editor of THISDAY Newspapers, Mr. Simon Kolawole; Deputy Managing Director of the SUN Newspapers, Mr. Femi Adeshina; and Producer of InsideOut Talk Show, Mr. Aderoju Adepoju, said the dismissal of the medical personnel was not his making and that he lacked the power and right as the state governor to either sack or employ any medical doctor.

According to him, “I cannot reverse the sack. It is not in my powers to do so. I will not be able to do just as I cannot affect their promotion. It is the Health Service Commission (HSC) that will promote them. I will not be here after three years.”
The panel’s discussion, which was aired on Lagos Television live, was organised to mark Fashola’s fifth anniversary during which the governor gave account of his stewardship since his return to office for the second term.
At the panel discussion, the governor confirmed that 34 of the 788 dismissed medical personnel had been reabsorbed having appealed to the HSC and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), both of which he described as their employers.
He said: “So, it is not about me. It is about institutions. I have made efforts to ensure a final resolution to the prolonged strike hence the recall of the 34 doctors. But the affected doctors have to appeal.
“Anyone who appeals should be recalled, but they have to take the step. Let them go to their employers and resolve the issue. Any doctor who still wants to remain can have their jobs back and engage with their employers.”
The governor explained that the HSC was the body saddled with the responsibility of determining the fate of the doctors, however urging them to take the first point of appealing their dismissal.
On whether the state reneged the agreement with the doctors, the governor said the state government had overstressed beyond its capacity to ensure the doctors were comfortable due to the important service they provide.
He said most of the problems confronting the nation were as a result of institutional imbalance with continuous call for a decrease in government spending, saying however that the focus should be on solution rather than over flogging the problems.
Fashola also recalled that the wage bill of the state on his assumption of office in 2007 “was N2.8 billion, but the last wage cheque I signed in April was N6.1 billion, I am yet to see that of May.
He described the notion held in some quarters that the state government was rich as completely erroneous, adding that funds “remain a challenge in his quest to bring about infrastructural renewal. The only bulk money we receive every month fluctuates between N7 billion to N9 billion which is what we get from the federal allocation. This is a state of over 20 million residents and its increasing by the day.”
But the governor lamented the disparity in the country’s revenue allocation structure, saying a state with four million residents “gets N21 billion monthly. If I had N21 billion monthly, my work is finished in Lagos.”
However, the governor handed over Lagos Traffic Radio 96.1 FM to Lagosians as part of dividends of democracy to achieve safe motoring, saying it was established to give first hand information about traffic situation in the state.
The governor, who used the opportunity offered by the Democracy Day celebration to inaugurate a new BRT route to cover Yaba- Oyingbo axis, said it would provide sustainable mass transit services in the state.
Fashola assured Lagosians that the problem of homelessness would soon be a history in the state, stating that the state government “will soon flag off Lagos Homes Ownership Mortgage Scheme (HOMS) driven by a single digit mortgage facility.
“The mortgage payment pattern would improve productivity in the state, as the beneficiaries would want to work harder and retain their jobs to offset their mortgage,” the governor said.
Meanwhile, the NMA through its chairman, Dr. Edamisan Temiye, while addressing a press conference yesterday, said the doctors purportedly re-instated were not among the sacked doctors, “we have it on good authority that these doctors were neither sacked nor queried.”
“The governor is not ready to act. Is it possible for the Head of Service and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) board to sack all its consultants without his approval. Is it possible to sack two thirds of a group of professionals without the governor’s approval,” he said.
If the answer is no, then the governor has deceived all Lagosians and if the governor does not have power over people that he has selected to work for him then it is very sad,” he said.
Speaking on the way forward, the chairman who said that the indefinite solidarity strike had not been suspended called on the governor of the state to act in his capacity as the governor to bring the current crisis to an end without delay.
In a chat with journalists after the press briefing, the chairman of the state Medical Guild, Dr. Olumuyiwa Odusote, who confirmed the reinstatement of 34 doctors, however, said: “Many of the 34 doctors have called us and we told them that whether you are on leave or resuming your leave and your association is on strike, NMA has called the strike, you must join.”
“The medical guild was on strike before most of us were sacked and that strike to my understanding has not been called off,” he said.
The NMA has announced plans to convene a national emergency meeting on June 2 to chart the way forward.

Source:247