FG to ban medical doctors from private practice

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has concluded plan to ban medical doctors from private practice and also enforce "no work no pay" policy.

This was revealed by Health minister Isaac Adewole and his labour and employment counterpart Chris Ngige at FEC meeting yesterday.

Dr Adewole said the federal government would soon ban private practice by its medical personnel, including doctors nationwide.

Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole

According to the minister, the law of the land does not allow any public officer to do anything other than farming.

He said already a committee had been set up to advice government appropriately on the matter.

The minister stated revealed that the Council also looked at the issue of residency training programme and decided that the training should last for a fixed time of seven years.

According to him, after the seven years training period, individuals should exit from the programme so that other people can come into it.

“In addition council also considered an important memo on industrial relations particularly in the public sector, that report dealt extensively with several issues but for us the health sector the most important is the need to do comprehensive job evaluation.

So, government has decided to set up a committee that would evaluate what exactly do we do as individuals, how much should we be paid in a way that we can really pay appropriately across board through the entire country.

“Council also looked at the issue of residency training programme and decided that the training should last for a fixed time of 7 years after training for 7 years individuals should exit from the programme so that other people can come into the programme.

“Council has also decided to look into the issue of private practice by medical doctors in the public sector and a committee has been set up to look extensively into that issue because we want to resolve the issue of what does the law of the land state and what the rule of professional ethics say,’’ he said.

Adewole announced that the federal government would embark on a nationwide vaccination against yellow fever following the reported outbreak of the disease in some part of the country.

Ngige on his part, said that the enforcement of `no work, no pay’’ doctrine, was part of measures to restore harmony into the public service in the country.

Minister of Labour and productiv

Ngige said the directive was take at the meeting of the Federal Executive Council which met on Wednesday which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He stated that the council’s decision to strictly observe and implement the doctrine followed the council’s acceptance of the recommendation of the report of the Technical Committee on Industrial Relation matters in the federal public service.

The committee which was chaired and co-chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Head of Service, was inaugurated on April 26, 2016.

“The report emphasises the need for government to implement the law on “No Work No Pay’’.

“The “No work No Pay’’ is not a rule neither is it a policy. It is a law captured in the Trade Dispute Act of the Federation, section 43, which says worker has the right to disengage their service from an employer if there is a breakdown in their discussion/negotiation.

“But, for the periods that the worker does so, the employer should not pay and those periods are to be counted as non-pensionable times in his period of work.

“So, Council today reemphasised that law is still and it should be brought to the knowledge of workers in Nigeria especially those in the public sector,” he said.