THE Kwara State Government, on Monday, met with the members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) over the notice of strike given by the medical doctors working with the state government.

The medical doctors had earlier given the government a 21-day ultimatum to attend to their requests or face strike.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the truce was brokered at a meeting between the state government and the executive officers of NMA in Ilorin.

While the state government was represented by the Head of Service (HoS), Mrs Susan Oluwole, the NMA team was led by the chairman, Dr Abdulkadir Ahmed.

Speaking at the meeting, the HoS, while acknowledging the demands of the doctors, however, said that most of the issues were not peculiar to the medical profession.

She said that government was already taking steps to alleviate the problems and enhance the welfare of the entire workers.

Oluwole enjoined members of the association to exercise restraint, stressing that the threat to embark on strike was uncalled for at the moment.

“Government has massive plan for the revival of particularly the health sector and by the time it is concluded, nobody will have reason to go to Japan,” she said.

Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Abubakar Ayinla, acknowledged the efforts of the present administration towards repositioning the health sector.

He noted that the state government had made regular payment of the doctors’ salaries a priority, in addition to improving working facilities in the hospitals.

“Doctors were the first to enjoy the new salary scale before other sectors in the state and have been paid the CONSAS while the government is also looking into the hazard allowance matter,” he said.

In his reaction, the NMA chairman said that the workload on the medical doctors working with the state government was massive due to inadequate qualified hands.

He noted that there had been low response to the advertised employment of new doctors, attributing this to what he called poor take home of medical officers.

Ahmed called on government to urgently look into the improvement of salary and hazard allowance of the doctors in order to make the state attractive for qualified health professionals.