The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, in Kogi on Thursday, March 1, 2018, announced that all healthcare facilities in the state would remain shut until all its minimum demands are met.
A communique issued after an Ordinary General Meeting, OGM, of the association in Lokoja, and signed by its Chairman, Godwin Tijani, and secretary, Zubair Kabiru, also directed its members in FMC Lokoja, to proceed on sympathy strike on the first three days of every month.
The association said it has allowed, in its magnanimity, some of its members in FMC Lokoja to continue to offer skeletal services, despite declaring an industrial action.
It also said doctors managing the Lassa fever centre at Kogi State Specialist Hospital, Lokoja, were allowed to attend to emergency cases and private practitioners in the state rendered health care services to the general public without hindrance.
“The Congress believes that the Kogi Government has been given ample time and opportunity to resolve the issues at stake.
“Congress also noted the unfortunate development where some experienced medical officers were asked to proceed on compulsory retirement for no justifiable reasons,” it said.
The association said that the industrial action would be sustained until their minimum demands are met. Among them is “the payment of the balance of 40 percent salary arrears from August to December 2017”.
