LAGOS, NIGERIA - Hundreds of doctors in
Nigeria's economic capital have been dismissed after going on an
"illegal" strike over pay, Lagos state officials have said.
Almost 800 doctors who went on strike for two weeks, have been replaced by about 400 junior doctors.
According to reports, nurses staffed hospitals in the strike and many patients are said to have suffered because of a lack of care. So far, the mass strike
has taken its toll on a significant number of patients in need of urgent
medical care. Hospital staff say many patients have either died or continue to suffer as
the strike shut down the medical institutions.
This is the first time doctors in Nigeria have been sacked over industrial action.
The doctors were dismissed for refusing to answer queries
about why they had been absent from work without leave and for breaking
rules guiding industrial action in the state's public service, Lagos
government official Adesegun Ogunlewe said.
More than 1,000 doctors went on strike on 16 April, saying
that the state government had failed to implement a pay increase
promised by Governor Babatunde Fashola at the end of 2010.
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