Judge’s illness stall hearing of Lagos doctor’s suit

Doctors sacked by the Lagos State Government have threatened to institute fresh suits against the government if it refuses to reverse their sack before the 16th of May. This is as the hearing of a earlier suit filed by the doctors was stalled on Wednesday due to the absence of the presiding judge, Justice Benedict Kanyip, who has fallen ill. At the National Industrial Court, sitting in Lagos on Wednesday, a suit filed by the doctors on the 24th of April, to pre-empt their sack or any disciplinary action could however not go on due to the absence of the presiding judge The court registrars have fixed the matter for the 16th of May. Some youth turned up at the industrial court, carrying placards with inscription to the doctors to “go back to work”. Counsel to the sacked doctors, Mr Bamidele Aturu says the suit may include one ordering the government to reverse the sack and another seeking damages against the government owing to the “embarrassment and psychological trauma” the doctors have been made to go through because of the sack.” 788 doctors in the service of Lagos government were dismissed on Monday for the doctors’ alleged refusal to respond to a query prompted by a three-day warning strike they embarked on between March 11 and 13, 2012. Mr Aturu described the government’s sack of the doctors as “illegal and reckless” having been allegedly carried out despite the government awareness of the pending suit. However, the state’s Attorney-General, Mr Ade Ipaye, who was also in court denied government’s knowledge of the suit before the decision to sack the doctors was made. According to Ipaye, the decision to sack the doctors had already been taken by the Personnel Management Boards before the court papers were served to them late last Friday.