Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Friday, appealed to medical practitioners in the country to always consider the health and lives of their patients first before embarking on strike.
Obasanjo declared that the culture of doctors proceeding on strike and abandoning patients to their fate is even more unethical, advising them to fashion out another way to show their displeasure.
The elder statesman made this known during the opening ceremony of the National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners, NAGGMD, at the Doctor’s House, Lukosi, Abeokuta.
The ex -Head of State, who was the Father of the Day at the occasion, passionately appealed to physicians to make patients’ conditions a matter of priority while demanding better welfare from their employers.
He said: “A major issue that I always want to talk about whenever I am in your midst, which I told you when you came visiting is the issue of going on strike any time you want to show your displeasure particularly, government doctors.
“My position is that, since the care for your patient is a major ethical issue of your profession, abandoning them to go on strike is even more unethical. You should fashion another way to show your displeasure and not doing so at the expense of your patients.”
Commenting on the theme of the event: “The Importance of Supply Chain Management in Health Care System Straightening,” Obasanjo called for the resuscitation of the old central medical store system in order to boost availability of drugs in the country.
”We used to have something like that in the past during the Western region. I don’t know whether we still have it. If we don’t, maybe this is the time to return to it or have something near it, which will bring efficiency and affordability to our drug chain system,” he said.
Also, the Secretary to the State Governor (SSG), Tokunbo Talabi, who represented the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, aligned with the ex -President and called for caution over tendency to resort to strike.
“I want you to look into what Baba Obasanjo has said on this issue of strike. You can get alternative for Taxi drivers if they decide to go on strike, yes, we have Okada drivers, but, this is not so for you. God made you so special to save lives and you should live up to the expectation. We can device other ways to save lives. It is very important,” Talabi said.
The Ogun State chairman of NAGGMD, Dr. Olufemi Odusote, in his welcome address hinted that the theme of the event became imperative in view of the health challenges, which included manpower, brain drain, and general welfare of members and security challenges have made doctors vulnerable.
“With the calibre of resource persons, including our highly revered Erudite Professor Ogunlesi as our guest lecturer, we are of the view that we are going to get solutions to these challenges confronting us as a body in the country.”
