El-Rufai says doctors embarking on strike should kiss their jobs goodbye

Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai has warned doctors threatening to embark on a strike action that they may just be bidding their jobs farewell.

The doctors are asking the Kaduna state government to honour an agreement on salary adjustments, among other matters.

“The government rejects the strike threat and will regard persons who fail to show up at their assigned places of work as having forfeited their employment,” El-Rufai said in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Muyiwa Adekeye.

“Every health worker that is willing to work is required to sign the register at the Ministry of Health and the health institutions to which they are deployed.

“The ministry of health has the mandate of the government to ensure that residents of Kaduna state are not deprived of public health services.

“Every effort will be made to ensure that health facilities keep functioning, staffed by willing workers who will be guaranteed free and safe access to health facilities.”

Kaduna State Governor, Nasiru El-Rufai. [@GovKaduna] Pulse Nigeria

The governor also warned that attempts to prevent other healthcare professionals from doing their jobs will be deemed criminal.

“Those who are not willing to work are strongly warned against criminal actions such as attempts to impede access to workplaces, harass willing workers or to sabotage facilities and equipment.

“The consequences of concessions made along such lines by previous governments have created a sense that some public servants are more precious than others,” he said.

Kaduna, like the rest of the country, needs all the healthcare workers it can get to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The state has so far reported 170 COVID-19 cases.

El-Rufai, who was diagnosed of COVID-19 on March 28, 2020, was discharged on April 22.