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Pharmacists in Lagos have slammed current plans to restructure the Pharmacist Consultant cadre into a Specialist Cadre, arguing it is against the norm both nationally and internationally.
The Pharmacist Consultant cadre was one of the particular demands of the Pharmacist stakeholders meeting with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in December 2018, according to pharmacists under the umbrella of the Lagos state branch of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN.
The State Chairman, Babayemi Oyekunle, informed the state Governor at the opening ceremony of the PSN Scientific Week in Lagos that the Pharmacist Consultant cadre was first recognised by the National Council on Establishment, NCE, in 2011.
His words, “This approval was re-validated in 2021 by the same NCE. It is imperative to state that a Specialist Cadre has never been on the cards at Federal and State levels for the reflected reasons.
“In all the negotiations dating back to 2018 when JOHESU/AHPA engaged the Ambode administration to contemporary times when NUAHP/JOHESU negotiated with the Sanwo-Olu administration, we demanded specifically for a Consultant Cadre, not a Specialist Cadre.
“We rely on International Labour Organisation (ILO) instruments especially the Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No 151) which states “the convention promotes collective bargaining for public employers (LASG) as well as other methods allowing public employees representatives (PSN/JOHESU) to participate in the determination of their conditions of employment.
“It also provides that disputes shall be settled through negotiation between the parties ot through independent and impartial machinery such as mediation, conciliation and arbitration.”
Oyekunle clarified that PSN Lagos State’s demand for a Consultant Cadre, not a Specialist Cadre, remains unchanged in the LASG-PSN/JOHESU negotiations, as per the MOU provided earlier, and that the approval of the NCE remains unchanged.
He said the Lagos State Health Service (PSN Lagos) has criticized the government’s over-reliance on a physician-dominated health system, stating that it is embarrassing that some professionals are more equal than others in the sector.
Further, the PSN Lagos called on the State government to address the issue of physicians negotiating their benefit packages while still dictating what other health workers can enjoy. They urged the government to stop allowing physicians to impose their conditions of service on workers.
