We have addressed concerns of striking doctors – Sanwo-Olu

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Tuesday, at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Yaba told journalists who asked question about the ongoing warning strike by doctors and health workers in state that it was the responsibility of the government to cater for the welfare of all workers.

“I also have the responsibility to ensure lives of all residents and their property are secured. This is paramount to us. The media would agree with me that in the last 412 days we have come on board, security and welfare of the people have been part of our guiding principles. And we will keep doing that as we go along.

“However, disputes are also natural in human relationship. People might see things differently from the way others do see it. Personally, I am not upset about the warning strike embarked on by the Medical Guild. The action is not anything to grieve about; it is really all around communication and understanding. You will understand things when you see knowledge, and wisdom will also come in when you seek knowledge. These are key guiding principles. The issues of disagreement are very simple; it is because of lack of adequate communication,” the governor said.

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The first thing they said is that, we owe some workers hazard allowances. For the benefit of the public, our Government is the first, in March, that started paying hazard allowance to our entire health workers, almost 20,000 of them. We increased the hazard allowance by 400 per cent and this is verifiable. Lagos is the first to do this. All the entire health workers – doctors, nurse, drivers, hygienists – got a 400 percent on hazard allowance as enumerated in their payment structure.

Above that, we realised we needed to give additional incentive to frontline workers specifically engaged in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. This is called COVID-19 allowance, which is outside their regular salaries and hazard allowances. The COVID-19 allowance is for over 1,000 medical officers and other auxiliary workers in all of our isolation centres. On this additional allowance, I do not need to consult with anybody. It is something I felt it was needed.

Lagos is the first in the country to create this additional allowance and we are doing it not because we wanted to show off. We realised Lagos is the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic and I think we should show leadership and commitment to all our frontline staff. So, we created that allowance and paid it.

So, as we go along, we needed to review our strategy, because our strategy at that time when we created the COVID-19 allowance was to contain the pandemic before it would get to the communities. So, we paid the allowance, which, in my view and everyone’s view, was roof-top. We actually paid people allowances that were like twice of their monthly salaries. We had thought COVID-19 is a pandemic we would resolve within one or two months. So, we created the allowance as motivation for everyone on the frontline.

Disagreement on tax issues

The other concern of the health workers is taxes. Tax is a component of the law of the federation. However, I have been hearing about excess tax since I was Commissioner for Establishment. Medical workers have been complaining that they are taxed more than necessary. At that time, the Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS) chairman solved those problems. The salaries of medical workers have since been improved since that time. Maybe the issue now is that, they still feel their salary is small.

Taxation and salary deduction is a function of the law and there are things that are allowable and things not allowable. Even at that, we said let’s further look at the salary and asked about the amount of tax can the Government place on the salary of a medical officer. At best, maybe it is N5,000, N7,000 or N8,000 they are talking about.

Doctors’ residential quarters

With all the best intention, we have two developers we have commissioned to build accommodation for health workers. Even if we start today, the minimum period we can deliver such project is 24 months. To build an accommodation is not something you can just tell me do within a short period. In this premises we are now (IDH), there is a plan to develop Doctors’ Quarters. There is an international company that has said they want to work with us to build a hospital. I told them what we urgently need is Doctors’ Accommodation.

As I speak to you, the design of the project is coming up. Same thing is happening in Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH); we have a private sector firm we are already talking to. We have agreed to build Doctors’ Quarters for the health workers, but it is not something that will happen in a day. Space has to be aligned, designs have to be done and funds have to be available. So, we said within 24 months, we will see what can be done.

On shortage of medical personnel

We have a standing order on replacement on exit of any health worker. The Health Service Commission does not even need my permission to do that. It has been our standing rule only for the health workers and teachers to replace upon retirement. Because of the current pandemic, there have been, in the last six months, about 600 to 700 general health workers – doctors, nurses, hygienists – that have had to retire due to statutory retirement age. We have since given approval for replacement. COVID-19 has kept all of us at home for the past three months. Over 65 percent of civil servant in Alausa are still at home. I have given approval to recruit 760 health workers, of which 400 are doctors alone. Even the capacity to be able to identify the 400 doctors alone is a challenge. But, the process has started; the Medical Guild is aware of this. They have been carried along in the process.

Unceremonious dismissal of workers from COVID-19 work

This allegation is rather unfortunate. Sixty-five per cent of all of our health workers are working in our General Hospitals. What we have seen after we changed our strategy in the response to COVID-19 pandemic is that, we realised people are getting tired.

Special care for frontline health workers

We have a dedicated isolation centre specifically for health workers at Agidingbi. Any health worker that falls sick or test positive for COVID-19 is to be taken to the dedicated isolation centre. It has been there for over two months. We care for them there. They quarantine themselves there; they don’t need to go their homes to infect their loved ones. Over the last four months, we have had 14 hotels in which all our health workers have been staying.

Disparity of wage paid by Lagos and FG

How can Lagos, with its lean revenue, be comparing itself with the Federal Government? For information sake, our minimum wage is higher than what the Federal Government pays. This means, across the public service, we pay more than the Federal Government. I don’t need to go into issues around who does what. We know what they requirements are. We know this is Lagos and the cost of living is higher than a few other states.

COVID-19 additional allowance for engaged health workers

We run an extremely transparent government. The allowance the striking doctors are talking about is the COVID-19 Additional Allowance which I created at my own discretion. When we started, we were paying these workers two, three times of their regular salary and we felt this is not sustainable. I gave the Permanent Secretaries in our health sector a task to do a proper assessment of who should qualify.