The Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has slammed the state Governor Babatunde Fashola for refusing to pay owed salaries of doctors describing his government as anti-people.
Agbaje spoke against the backdrop of the warning strike embarked upon by doctors in the employment of the state on Wednesday.
According to a statement, by Agbaje’s Directorate of Media and Publicity, Lagos, with its eye on mega-city status, deserved seamless health services.
Agbaje described the strike as one too many, saying, it signified not only a failure of leadership but underscored the impunity with which the government dealt with its employees.
“My heart bleeds over this avoidable strike because I find it unbelievable that Governor Fashola is making the poor masses suffer unduly due to a minor issue like salaries, which is the right of every worker,” he said. “If truly the leaders in the ruling APC in Lagos are Progressives, they would not be behaving in this inhuman fashion.”
He hinged his assessment on the fact that Lagosians had gone through untold hardships, having suffered the effects of incessant strikes in the health sector in the last six months.
Lamenting that the unhealthy trend had inflicted avoidable suffering and death to patients, he said doctors and their families had also undergone needless pain.
“Government, the world over is about the people, but are the people not the ones suffering due to the action of the APC regime in Lagos? Unfortunately, patients of public hospitals fix all their hope in government hospitals. Something urgent should be done by government to alleviate their sufferings and prevent avoidable deaths.”
According to the PDP Governorship Candidate, the strike exposed the hypocrisy behind the APC propaganda of free-health services, as the hospitals remained underfunded, with the bulk of treatment funded by patients.
He pointed out that striking doctors were not well paid, while some of them served as “casual workers” against their will.
Agbaje promised to improve health services if voted into office.
“Let me assure Lagosians that hope is on the way, as our administration knows the importance of a healthy people to national development,” he said. “As I have said repeatedly during our campaigns, our administration shall introduce a free-health insurance scheme that would be beneficial to Lagosians and service providers. The system is working all over the world, and our people deserve to benefit from this globally-acclaimed best practice in the health sector.”
