Saudi Arabia lures Nigerian doctors

  1. Posted on Friday 19 November 2010 - 11:30
    Samuel
    Image of Samuel
    Samuel Okocha, AfricaNews reporter in Lagos, Nigeria
    A number of striking doctors in Nigeria's commercial capital of Lagos might not resume at the hospitals when their current strike action is eventually called off. This is because the doctors who have been on strike since August this year are said to be getting better work offers from Saudi Arabia.
    Nigeria: Labour begins strike
    Doctors working with Lagos and other state governments are demanding the implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Scale [CONMESS] already being implemented in health institutions owned by the federal government.

    “There will be some doctors that would tender their resignation, but there would be doctors that would not event tender, that would just move out since they have seen a better offer in Saudi Arabia,” Dr. Yomi Lawal who works in one of the general hospitals in Lagos told AfricaNews.

    “At the end of the day if I can go home with, lets say 500,000 naira [around $3,300] over there and here I can make home with 20,000 naira, so why wasting my time. So there are offers, a lot…actually... they want me to come,” Dr. Lawal said. But he would not join the fray. “The only thing that can make me move out, is for my postgraduate [studies] and immediately I’m coming back to this country.”

    The spokesman for the Lagos state government Opeyemi Bamidele had confirmed in a discussion programme on national radio that with CONMESS, the highest paid doctor would be collecting 800,000 naira [around$5,300]. He said the government which has around 1000 doctors in its employment, has offered to implement 75 percent of the salary scale with other privileges sustained while negotiations are ongoing.

    For Dr. Lawal, if CONMESS is implemented, it would help to reduce the incidence of doctors leaving the country for better pay and working conditions. “That was the reason CONMESS was introduced by the Federal Government so as to be in par if not the same... with CONMESS when you weigh it, why can't I come into the country and stay.”

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