A BRIDGE TOO FAR?

 

If we assume this struggle has not been brought to an end; and I very much hope so, what direction should it take?

The first thing would be to emphasize in clear terms, what we already know; this is beyond the issue of police brutality, it is about the overall dismal performance of government and the attendant effect on our standard of living and quality of life. Importantly, to note that, it is not to lament on these ills, but to use this as an opportunity to  evolve real positive change.

A salient thing about our democracy is how well our politicians and people in government have “bo bo” us, how much they are confident about continued use of their trump card over us. Therefore, the biggest point we can make, is for our leaders to accept that they cannot continue to take us for a ride, as it cannot continue to be business as usual. This has to be made in clear terms, and not just not just inferred.

Two issues come to mind, first is the unhealthy emolument of our law makers. For the very first time we have what we could call an official pronouncement of what our senators earn, this is one of the intangible achievement of this struggle thus far, but we need to concretize the gain. A demand for a reduction in the take home pay of the legislators should be precondition to a surrender. An amount not more than a third of what they currently earn, should be an acceptable compromise, in the first instance.

The other issue to touch on is the “criminal” retirement benefits of our governors. In my opinion, this is perhaps the biggest crime against our sensibility. I wouldn’t want to dwell on the details of the various largesse enjoyed by our governors, from Lagos to Akwa ibom, to Benin etc, simple put, it’s a slap on our face. People who have their hands inside the cookie jar for eight years in office, are allowed to cart away a chunk of our common wealth, and be remained served till they die. We must demand that the state governors request the law to be put in abeyance, forthwith. This making our second condition to surrender.

The two issues are a symbolism of what the political group should expect as things to come. With the end to SARS squad already achieved, then we would have done so much, and comfortably found a place to rest the agitation. We could of course then list other things as presently contained in the long list of demands by the protesters, as medium and long term demands. Not as though we would rely on government to be true to their words, but the point must have been made, struggle is a journey, and not a destination. So far, the government of the day has made good to yield to the demands of the protesters, this in itself creates justifications for wrong labelling that is expected to follow.

Finally, I wish to emphasize the fact that, the only way to effecting a change, is by political means. This government came to power by popular votes; indeed beyond winning an election, it was a pronouncement of our desire to move from the old ways, therefore in itself representing a “revolution”. Now that it is clear to us that nothing has changed, we cannot expect to change the government or even governance in its entirety, by just collective bargaining. We must be ready to go to the polls to create new leadership.

 “It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he breaks, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.” John Philpot Curran 1808

 

On Boko haram and the victory claim by Federal Government:

On Boko haram and the victory claim by Federal Government: couple of months ago, when President Muhammadu Buhari made a pronouncement on a deadline for an end to the war on Boko Haram, I felt so exhilarated; first I saw the pronouncement as an ambitious target by the government and I believe that is how modern day government works, the other point is that I believe we cannot fight the war endlessly without having a timeline.
I am however worried about recent pronouncements by the government on the success of achieving the said target. It seems to me that the government did not fully understand the merit of the idea of deadline. It seems to me that the present administration has found its self desperate to make claims on achieving the targets it has set for itself. It almost seems to me that the government thinks that success or failure would be predicated on meeting the set deadline. I completely disagree with this stance.
Apart from the afore mentioned points, the deadline was supposed to be a point for us to re evaluate our efforts and decide on whatever was left.
Ideologically speaking, the fight against terror would not be won on the battle field, the war would be won by sustained process of social and economic re engineering within the embattled zones; and that cannot be achieved in a short time, indeed it may take more than the lifespan of one administration to achieve it.
On Christmas Day, an attack by Boko Haram left 14 people dead in Borno, but the shocking thing is that the news did not break. Indeed it only became reported on the 27th. Prior to that, the information minister had insisted that it was wrong for the media to carry news on BH attack on soft targets. He reiterated his position yesterday when he visited the Punch news paper house. His thrust was fueled by his defence for the government's claim on meeting the December deadline, and he believes the reportage would work against government's claim.
The first thing the minister missed is the ideology behind the deadline. I do not think anyone would score this government poorly on the issue of security, particularly on BH. indeed I believe the government has done remarkably well as we already envisaged.
The second part is to bring to the consciousness of the minister that the worst havoc ever wrecked by BH has being on soft targets and not on the military as it were. The Chibok girls and other captures, the Nyanya bomb blast, the Kano bus park attack, the UNIJOS amphitheater attack etc.The images of the remains of these gory attacks cannot be easily erased from our minds.
We cannot run a government by propaganda, even if we try, we cannot develop ourselves through propaganda.
My takeaway and advice to the minister is that the war on BokoHaram is far from over, it is far from being won, and can that never be an indictment on a government that has being moving in the right direction on the issue.

DEEP THOUGHT

DEEP THOUGHT: our comments are becoming so sentimental, opinions are now so partisan, the most dangerous trend is that 85% of us are not members of any political parties, yet we defend our affiliations as if we are part of them; we are not. Nigerians (youth especially) must wake up, criticism based on party affiliation would not move us forward.
Every time you make a comment these days people would say you are either PDP or APC, nobody cares to look at the substance of your arguments again. This  unprecedented trend would not foster constructive criticism which is supposed to be a panacea for national growth and it is now very worrisome. lets turn a new leaf in 2016. #MyOpinion

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Fashola Is A Tyrant----Lagos NMA Chairman

ARTICLE | NOVEMBER 14, 2014 - 9:02AM | BY LARA ADEJORO



Expressing his displeasure over the non-payment of salaries for doctors employed by the Lagos State government and the poor state of the health sector, poor working conditions, the Lagos State Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Tope Ojo in this interview with LARA ADEJORO says any nation waging war against the health of his people by targeting the custodian of health is only  destined to ruin.

What is your take on the non-payment of salaries for doctors employed by the Lagos State government?

Tell Fashola that he is a tyrant. Anybody that attended a Nigeria University 25 years ago, who is a graduate of the first generation and the second generation of a Nigeria university that has gone through a university at a cost that is equal to no cost and he's now saying that a Nigerian child should pay N300,000 in a state university, that person is breeding a milieu for potential Boko Haram, prostitute, criminals, armed robbers. The milieu will be built because the common woman who fries plaintain, runs a small boutique or that guy who vulcanises your tire or those that earn meagre salary cannot afford the pay and those children will come back to be what? I attended a university when the entire education for me to study medicine was not up to N20,000 for six years because I was only paying tuition, I was paying N45 for accommodation per section, I was taking N90 or N120 per month between 1986, 1987 to 1993 and it still doesn't matter because we all belong to the same generation and Fashola belongs to that because he is just in his 50s. So, the same level of tyranny is what will inform him to have hated the Lagos State employed doctors. Why he hates them is simple, his predecessor and his political god-father, Tinubu pretending to be an advocate of a democracy in 1999 was able to ride on the euphoria of that moment to deal a decisive blow on Lagos State employed movement when that culminated into the sack of Ayodele Akele, then they thought he was rude but because of the high level of intellectualism among doctors, they continued with the battle. The only people that formed a formidable opposition which led to protest of the Lagos State doctors between 2007 till date is why the Lagos State Government is bent on annihiliating the medical profession. And you know, health is wealth, any nation that is waging war against the health of his people by targeting the custodian of health is only  destined to ruin. Since the last 3 years, the Lagos State Government has refused to employ any doctor on full-time basis, whereas all other employee has been done. Our Comrade in Edo State, Governor Adams Oshiomhole was casualising the workers too, he casualised almost all the work force of Edo State but because he could see the massive tsunami of protest and uprise of the Edo people, he unequivocally reversed that. In fact, he had to sacrifice his permanent secretaries that failed to comply. So, in Edo State, casualisation has been completed wiped out but Lagos State is the only state in the country that has continued to employ doctors on casualisation because the doctors have been the only ones confronting the state government since 2007. We just came back from a strike and the strike was not to ask for increment of salary, we were saying that all Nigerians should have access to health, that if your family member dies from Ebola, he should have life insurance, hazard allowance, these are basic things we were talking about. We were saying the post-graduate programme should be all encompassing for Nigeria to produce more specialists and are these things wrong? They flattened it and said doctors are asking for money and at the end of this, the Federal Government and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) had a truce. The truce was such that, there will not be any victimisation and negotiation will be on going but Lagos State said, it's a policy of no work, no pay. When for 8 months, the Academic Staff Union of

Universities (ASUU) went on strike, the Lagos State chapter was paid, when the judiciary workers were on strike, they were paid. The polytechnic staff went on strike and they were paid and they were saying no work, no pay for doctors. Since the strike has been called off, we have written over 50 letters and the Governor never replied.

But the Lagos State House of Assembly already said they were going to intervene on that?

There are a lot of good people in the House of Assembly but the Lagos State Government is like the proverbial dog that will get lost, that will never listen to the flute of the hunter and that is what Fashola represents.

So, what has been happening?

They've not paid doctors since July maybe except for the few that are sycophants but as far as I'm concerned, they've been owing doctors since July, August, September. In fact, it took a threat for them not to withhold October salary and I'm aware that a few people are not even paid in October. So, we've done a lot of advocacy initially, thinking that we could work together but we have found out that the state government is unrepentantly bent on destroying the health of Lagosians because once you are annihilated from your doctors, I wonder what you want to do. A lot of facilities they are building are devoid of personnel because they don't have any recourse for the medical association on the basis of planning and an encompassing participation to say this is what is required. You can't just say there is a General Hospital in Ijede, it must be a situation that, if anybody has bone injury, you tell him or her to go to Gbagada, then you have others but they are doing it based on their own shallow understanding. The Lagos State Government has systematically over the years replaced intellectualism with mediocrity.

Now that over 50 letters have been written to the state government with no reply, what is the next step?

Those that made possible change in the words of Frantz Fanon is violent change inevitable, that is the reality of it. If the Lagos State government has made things to fall apart, then surely the centre will definitely not hold. Advocacy of 5 months down the line and doctors are being singled out based on a policy that rests on chicken legs, definitely can no longer guarantee peace in the health sector.  We have written several letters of friendship, trying to exist together on the basis of genuity but that has been completely rebuffed by the state government.

What will you say about the strike embarked upon by the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU)?

You see, in a country where you have common sense been replaced by some tendencies that is based on petty material gain, in a country where legislation has been reduced to money bag legislation rather than democracy and common sense, then you have this. What they are telling you now is that even the cleaner can become a consultant. Who is a consultant? A consultant is a doctor who has gone for another six years of excruciating academic sojourn through the post-graduate colleges and then becomes a consultant, that is a specialist in the various fields. When going to the hospital, will you say you are going to see your consultant nurse. These are the issues because what the Nigeria government  is doing is illegalising the system into eternal destruction.

Don't you think there are adverse effects on the fact that the health workers are on strike. Won't the doctors be over-burdened in the discharge of their duties?

It doesn't make any difference. Whether there is strike or not. The health sector is now dangerous. There is going to be increased mortality based on anarchy. Now, we are trying to deal with impersonation from allied health workers who parade themselves as gynaecologists when they are midwives, parade themselves as orthopaedic surgeons when they are plaster room technician, and now you are giving them the room, it is death, death and death. That is the meaning. The Nigeria government has over-stamped death certificate in Nigeria based on this. For Nigerians, it is a sad story that the Nigeria ruling class is eternally corrupt morally, socially, monetarily. You talk about what happen in America but does this kind of policy hold forth?

What is the hope for the patients and Nigerians generally?

There is no hope. They should be on the street, fighting against the death sentence that has been passed on them by the Nigeria government.

Why Fasola is punishing Lagos Doctors

VINDICTIVE,OPPRESSIVE & ANTI-DOCTOR LASG! Sahara Reporter- http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CLlengRo2MM ...MEDGUILD

WHO DID IT BETTER; LAGOS AND TEXAS: RESPONDING TO A CASE OF EBOLA

 

On 20th July 2014 Nigeria was thrown into commotion, Lagos state particularly as the country recorded its first victim of Ebola diagnosed in a private hospital in Lagos. The index case was a Liberian, the late Patrick sawyer who evaded authorities in his country to seek care in Nigeria; haven suspected that he had been exposed to the deadly virus. His arrival caused a lot of panic with resultant loss of lives and several people contracting the illness. Though Patrick Sawyer died five days after being diagnosed with the disease, Nigeria was able to do a splendid job of containing the spread of the illness. Through contact tracing and active surveillance we have been able to rid the country free of Ebola.

But in a similar twist of fate another Liberian Thomas Duncan, has been diagnosed with the Ebola virus in Texas United States of America, making the second Liberian to have taken the disease through the air route to a country in which the disease is not natural. The index case arrived the United States from Liberia on 20th September 2014 haven had contact with an Ebola victim while in Liberia. He marked the first case of EVD to be diagnosed in the US and since then up to eighty people have been put on a watch list.

There seems to be so many similarities in the two events, but through a critical look we can analyze the two events and compare the ways both have been managed. But before we go into critical analysis we should have at the back of our minds that the United States has a functional health system with adequate funding and a motivated work force against the backdrop of a robust economy. The situation in Nigeria is completely the reverse, a poor health system; indeed some would say no system exists, but the health workforce is far from motivated against a backdrop of poor socio economic conditions.

Mr Patrick Sawyer travelled to Nigeria from Liberia arriving at Muritala Muhammed International Airport on the 20th of July. The purpose of his visit was to attend a conference in Calabar although hand site report revealed that he sneaked into the country haven suspected that he had contracted the deadly virus. He came down with the sickness at the Airport and he was transferred to first consultant hospital Lagos.

At that time there was practically no protocol existing in the country on handling of suspected Ebola cases, indeed there was little expectation by Nigeria and even the western world that the deadly virus could be transmitted to a country that did not share contiguous border with Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea; the three countries in which the virus had already assumed an epidemic proportion.

However, through the heroic effort of members of staffs of First consultant hospital lead by the late Dr Stella Adadevoh whom so many now consider a national hero,  saved the day. It would have been unthinkable the overwhelming effect the disease would have had on our health system if those people had not taken pain to do their job diligently. Through their heroic efforts and an appropriate response by authorities of the Lagos State government it was possible to effectively carry out efficient contract tracing and active surveillance which made it easier for the country to contain the disease.

The case in Texas seems a little different. Even though the patient arrived from Liberia at a time when the attitude of the whole world was trigger ready to fish out any suspicious case of Ebola especially with the slightest inkling of contact with an infected person or region, the patient presented at a hospital in Dallas (Texas health Presbyterian) with symptoms of fever and even after giving information that he just returned from Liberia he was asked to go home with antibiotics prescribed. He returned to the hospital two days later haven spent time with close family and friends while exhibiting symptoms of EVD and it was until the second visit that he was then put on a watch list and eventually diagnosed of EVD.

Thomas Duncan who is presently in a bad shape had contacts with dozens of people and therefore puts up to eighty people into the surveillance zone for EVD. This list includes five school children who have put much fear in the minds of many parents whose children attend the same school with these pupils.

There is no doubt that the United State health system is ready to cope with the challenge of curtailing the disease but that does not obviate the error that has now put many people in harm’s way. One would have thought that with already perceived danger of a global spread the health system in the United State would have been so much ready that such a case should not have been missed.

I must however clarify that such errors are not beyond any health system for as long as humans interact in any system there are bound to be errors. The point that is being made however is that Nigerian doctors need to be appreciated. They have been working in a no system environment, poorly motivated in a harsh socio-economic environment, yet he puts up his best to deliver service best that he could.

Though so many regard the Late Adadevoh a hero of the country; I quite agree with that clamour, but the late doctor was actually just doing her job. She did it in a manner in which she has learnt, not minding the fact that the society had next to nothing to offer in return. So many Nigerian doctors are daily giving their all and a couple of times their lives to saving patients lives. They do it without expecting so much from the society yet the Nigerian doctor seems to be the most bashed by the public more than any other society that I have learnt about.

Even before EVD, Nigerian doctors face the daily threats of HIV, Hepatitis and many other communicable diseases. They also face harassment by the patient who they care for. They do this and only receive a wage too paltry to take care of a quarter of their needs. With or without Ebola the risk of communicable disease is rife amongst health workers, yet the doctor receives a paltry sum of five thousand Naira as hazard allowance.

We need to think deeply and give to the Nigeria doctors what they truly deserve. The doctors deserve to work in a virile and well funded health system with the capacity to improve upon the practice of medicine and consequent improved service delivery. The Nigerian doctor deserves encouragement and support, not frequent strikes as a need to demand for basic means of sustenance. It’s time to change the social ethos, lets support our doctors for all the work they do. Health is wealth, and remember an unhappy doctor is a dangerous doctor.

THE NIGERIAN HEALTH SECTOR; JUST BEFORE THE WATERLOO

Its been over two weeks now since the Nigerian Medical Association pulled her members away from work through out the country making a lot of the common Nigerians groan under the agony of seeing their loved ones suffer from illnesses without getting proper care and some even loosing precious lives in the process.

Much as many may feel that the worst has come, it is instructive that we take a critical look of the present predicament and understand that the worst is yet to come. Judging by the facts of the issues that has led to the present action of the NMA, it is clear to me that if urgent and decisive steps are not taken then the Nigerian Health sector is just about to meet its waterloo.

No doubt NMA and her doctors have received the worst bashing from the general public; which has been fueled by the support of the Union of the Joint health workers under the aegis of an amorphous body called JOHESU. This situation is so because people lack dept into the issues that has caused the present action of the doctors and of course the fact that they cannot phantom why the doctors would appear so callous as to abandon their patients.

If we must avoid impending doom it is imperative that we take a critical impartial analysis of the present issues, so that we can take decisive steps to avoid the worst coming to being. Rather than just always criticize the doctors for withdrawing services, it is better to first understand the issues dispassionately; next we can then query the decision of the doctors to have taken withdrawal of service as the option to pursue their agitation.

For all those who have good knowledge of the goings-on in the  health sector of Nigeria, it would be clear that whatever crisis we are witnessing now is a result of conflict that has long bedeviled the sector and has been brewing for over two decades ago.

Without prejudice to any of the disputing sides, i make bold to say that health service requires the collaborative efforts of various professionals and other allied workers whose only goal is to come to a positive outcome of patient care. Every part of this whole has its integral role that it plays and one part may not claim superiority over the others.

However, in any scenario where we have different people coming together to achieve a single goal, there must be direction and this direction must be provided by leadership. The problem in the Nigerian health sector is that leadership has been misconstrued as superiority and as noted earlier, this problem has been on for decades. I also make bold to say that both sides are guilty of this misnomer.

Much as we try to have a clear understanding of the distinction between leadership and superiority, we must however also have a clear mind as to who to Captain the ship. It is commonsensical that only one captain is needed to direct this Ship, and anything other than that leads to chaos; which is exactly what we must avoid.

It is also commonsensical that the best person to captain the ship is the most knowledgeable person about the entire process and without doubt that positions falls to the doctor. That the doctor is the one with the most knowledge of the patient is what the other health professionals find discordant to their ears and this has been the bane of the long standing conflict.  But no one gets annoyed or argue when the lawyer says that he is the only learned person. Why should this concept be a problem within the health sector.

The common man may however find it petty that such issues should be taken so seriously by the doctors and more so resulting in such serious action as withdrawal of services. I must however paint the full implication of the issues as it affects the medical profession and ultimately how it affects the care of the patients too.

What the other health workers are asking for is not just a name, but to use and be accorded what is due to the term consultant. Other than that they also believe that it is their right to also head the health team. (Using the term health team gives a clearer implication of this request.)

Let us all be clear that the term consultant may refer simply to an advisory role between a professional and its client. Within the hospital setting however this is not so. The term consultant refers to a specific role which describes a relationship between a patient and a physician who has completed his specialization in a particular part of medicine. It is a position of responsibility as well as authority.

The implication is that if a doctor does not become a specialist, irrespective of many years of practice or getting to the highest position in service, it still does not confer on him the title consultant. What do we then make of a Nurse or pharmacist who wants to attain the same status. It has been believed that because these other health workers now pursue postgraduate degrees up to attaining a PhD it is therefore expected that it is okay for them to receive such status. But pursuing an academic career is completely different from specialization. Even a medical doctor who decided to attain a PhD does not get the title consultant.

The implication of having other health workers attain the status and role of consultant is that it provides more than one captain to direct the ship. For instance the consultant pharmacist may believe that he is a specialist in the field of drugs and therefore may decide on what drug a patient may or may not be given. Every one else including nurses and laboratory scientist may decide on themselves what they want or do not want for the patient. There exist no other word for this other than chaos!!

How would a patient get well with conflicting orders? Indeed who would be ready to get on board a ship with more than one captain. Well I wouldn’t, even if the ride is for free. Let it be clear that the scenarios painted above are not just suppositions, they are realities that already exist even before the conferment of this title. The doctors have however been able to save the situations in the past by referring the other team members to their specific roles and responsibilities. Now that the title has been conferred on other health workers it has been impossible to get proper direction for patients’ care in places where this happened and patients have been at the receiving end of it all.

With respect to the issue of headship, a clear distinction must be made between the head of administration of a hospital and the Chief Operating Officer. The position of the head of administration of the hospital has been occupied by people other than medical doctors. The NMA has no issue with anyone with the requisite skills to occupy that position. But when it comes to the chief operation officer of the hospital; by whatever name it is called, Medical Director, CMD, CEO of CFO, that position we maintain should be headed by a Medical doctor.

This is a position of high responsibility and one in which the officer has to make judgment call that is not based on just administrative matters but that is based on the clinical responsibility of the hospital. We must have at the back of us our minds that the goal of the hospital is patient centered. It is ONLY (note emphasis) the doctor that has the COMPLETE knowledge of the patient and can take most responsibility regarding patient care. It is therefore a desideratum that the doctor only can occupy this position in other to deliver on the expected goal of the hospital and health systems.

One cannot but be puzzled and amazed at the rate at which other health workers have jostled for the top post. These are people who are indeed very protective of their position and roles. Would the pharmacist allow the pharmacy department to he headed by a pharmacy technician? Would the laboratory scientist prefer to take instruction form the technicians? We know the answer to these questions. I also know as a matter of fact that there is a law in this country that bars non radiographers from using radiological equipments even the technician within that department is not allowed.

It is dismal that while these group of health officials are highly  engaged in professional territorial protection, they are also agitating for the job, authority and responsibility of the doctor. This and the chaos that may arise from it is what the doctors are protecting for engaging in the current industrial action.

Haven understood the basis of the industrial disharmony one must still ponder why the option of withdrawal of services has been taken by the doctors; especially when the grave consequences are well known.

In any reasonable society doctors are not to be allowed to go on strike under whatever condition. The onus however is not left to the doctors alone but also to the government and the general public. We must remember that the doctors are also a part of the society and become subjected to the same factors affecting everyone. The physician oath indeed recognizes this fact and provides that a physician should be well treated by the society as long as he plays the role of dedicating his time to patients care.

While one cannot take away the option of the doctors to agitating for their well being amongst other things, it is a terrible thing for doctors to withdraw services especially in a large scale. I believe that other methods must be available for the NMA to pursue its demands. We know that dialogue do fail but even when pushed to the wall the option of strike is very grave.

The organized labor NLC, TUC, etc and civil society groups should rather come to the aid of the doctors and serve as pressure groups to pursue the clear demands and aspirations of the doctors. But what would you have NMA do when those who we believe are supposed to be the intercessors are the ones who actually worked against the NMA.

As a matter of fact, while JOHESU had gone on strike a couple of times over this issue in the last one year, NMA has averted the same course by postponing an industrial action at least four times last year alone. NMA had continued to embrace the part of dialogue to pursue its demands. The game changer was the point when the Nigerian Labour Congress teamed up with the other health workers and threatened the federal government to sign the agreement with JOHESU even without prior fair hearing from NMA.

With the Federal government haven signed an agreement with JOHESU which is the complete reverse of the understanding with the doctors, NMA is left with no other choice than to take her destiny into her own hands. This is the reason for the current action of NMA and I sincerely await a dispassionate suggestion as to what other methods NMA could have adopted. The ultimatum given to the Federal government was a public document which was put on the pages of the news paper, Nigerians; including the civil society group did not deem it wise to intercede during that time frame and we all allowed the NMA to proceed on the withdrawal of services.

We all have a blame in this. The NLC, TUC and civil society groups have failed the country. We do not just claim to be a sane society without living up to such responsibilities. Up till today members of the civil society groups have not deem it fit to come into this present imbroglio.

As noted earlier, worse times are coming. How do we expect to achieve the team spirit with so much passion and acrimony. This is only a forbearer to unending disharmony. There is no team that can deliver without harmony, and there is no way the health sector can deliver on its goals without a team spirit. We must not wait to get to the end of the line. We must all act fast and decisively to forestall this grave consequence.

In other to move forward, the government must first find a way for the NMA to suspend its industrial action. One way is to ask that the whole team return to status quo ante. It is clear that only in settled waters do things mirror themselves, undistorted. Only in settled waters can we find a lasting solution to the problem at hand. No half measures.

The NMA as the rightful leader of the health sector must understand what leadership truly confers. It is a responsibility not only to the doctors but to everyone within the health sector. This is a role NMA has not truly delivered over the years. Only when the NMA assume this rightful responsibility can the other members of the team be ready to follow her leadership.

NMA and other health workers must come to a round table with a no winner no vanquish spirit. Together they can plot a future for the health system of this country. A future that cater for the needs and responsibilities of every member of the team, a future that is patient centered, geared towards improving quality in health care and elevation of the various professionals and allied groups within the health workforce.

This is the only dream that is truly positive. The only vision that can be pursued and lead to a positive future. Lets all swallow our pride and act wisely. Posterity be our judge.