The seven-day warning strike by the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), which began on Monday, has disrupted services in 83 federal hospitals and 64 medical and dental schools across universities in the country.
MDCAN declared a seven-day warning strike in a communique issued at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting last Thursday over what it described as the government’s failure to meet its demands.
In an exclusive interview, the national president of MDCAN, Prof Muhammad Muhammad, told our correspondent that the strike had taken effect across the country with full compliance.
He said even though other doctors are on the ground in the hospitals, the strike will have an impact because every patient seen in the hospital is seen on behalf of a particular consultant. “So those who own the patients are on strike,” he said.
Prof. Muhammad stated, “There are 42 fully accredited medical schools, 11 partially accredited medical schools, nine fully accredited dental schools, and two partially accredited dental schools in the country.
“83 Harpters representing 83 teaching hospitals, Federal Medical Centres and specialists hospitals”
The communique signed by Prof. Muhammad and the secretary-general, Prof. Daiyabu Ibrahim, decried the intentional attempt and absurdity to benchmark the requirement of the Vice Chancellor position to the attainment of a PhD without regard to the Medical and Dental Fellowships, describing it as unfair, unlawful and discriminatory to holders of the Medical and Dental Fellowship qualification.
The association also condemned the failure of the government to complete the process of harmonising the payment of the payments of Clinical Medical Lecturers with Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) are used to correct the significant shortfalls in their pay, entry-level, and pension.
MDCAN has, therefore, resolved that the federal government should immediately relieve the Governing Council of Nnamdi Azikiwe University chairman of his appointment as council chairman for his insubordination and to enforce the Ministry of Education’s directive, nullifying any appointments after their directives.
Some of its other demands include the “Federal government to develop an all-inclusive advertisement prototype for the office of vice-chancellor. As recently issued by Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, the advertisement for the office of vice-chancellor may serve as a prototype.
“Harmonisation of the retirement age of medical consultants to 70 years.
“Harmonisation of payment of emoluments of medical lecturers with the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) to ensure universal applicability of CONMESS to all medical and dental officers.
“Payment of 2023 and 2024, Clinical Duty Allowance areas, and 2023 25 per cent/35 per cent CONMESS arrears.”
According to the communique, the MDCAN NEC will reconvene on Sunday, November 24th, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. to reassess the situation and progress made and chart the next course of action.
Meanwhile, the consultants’ absence led to the rendering of skeletal services in teaching hospitals, including the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital.
Leadership checks revealed that the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital has over 100 consultants, and patients who had appointments must wait until next week.
