A legal practitioner, Chief Taiwo Adeoluwa, has stressed the need for increased engagement between the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and the federal government as part of efforts to improve the nation’s health sector.
He said the association should consider the engagement of doctor/lobbyists to press home the group’s demands.
Adeoluwa who doubles as the team lead, Taiwo Adeoluwa and Associates, made the proposals in his paper presentation at the Leadership Conference of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Ogun State branch titled: “Building and Maintaining Trust and Credibility in Leadership Roles”.
He said although the medical labour unions have and can explore the right to strike as captured in Section 48 of the Trade Disputes Act, 2010, downing tools should always be the very last option.
He said strike is “invariably counter-productive and the lesser recourse you have to this negotiation tool, the better for all of us.”
said incessant strike action may also result in unwitting breach of your Hippocratic Oath which obliges both the leadership and members of your Associations to put the interests, wellbeing and welfare of your patients first.
Adeoluwa said, “The labour movement, and particularly NMA should steer away from making unrealistic demands. In the same way, the followership should not harbor unrealistic expectations from the leadership.
“When labour organisations put forward unachievable demands, the tendency is for the government to ignore such requests.”
He added that the challenge before NMA leadership and its success or otherwise will rest on how much you are able to align these conflicting expectations of your members with those of other Stakeholders.
He stated that the leaders of the medical community should be prepared to accept both benefit and burden in equal measure.
“We live in a rapidly changing world, and, more than ever before, leadership at all levels must work harder to build, and earn the trust of its followership as credibility naturally follows trust,” he said.
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