President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday
sacked resident doctors working in Federal
Government hospitals.
This action came in the heat of the hoopla the few
cases of the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has
caused.
A Federal Government circular on August 13 said the
action was taken to address the challenges in the
Health sector.
Since July 1, over 16,000 resident doctors had been
on strike. They turned down all entreaties from the
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and other
stakeholders to cooperate with the government in
the fight against the Ebola virus.
An internal circular by the Permanent Secretary in
the Federal Ministry of Health, L. N. Awute, said the
suspension was with immediate effect.
In a press release by the Deputy Director of Press,
Federal Ministry of Health, Alhaji Isiaka Yusuf, the
Federal Government said it had to do so after
exploring all avenues to end the strike, which it said
had compounded the health crisis in the country.
It would be recalled that the Nigeria Medical
Association had directed its members natiuonwide to
go on strike on July 1. The National Association of
Resident Doctors, an affiliate of the NMA, has put its
numerical strentgh at about 16,000.
“The situation has been compounded by the recent
importation of the Ebola Virus Disease into Nigeria
on July 20, 2014. Following the Presidential
declaration of a National Public Health Emergency on
Ebola Disease, which has united the entire country in
the efforts to contain the disease, it is quite
regrettable that the people who should take
leadership role in the fight against the Ebola disease
are now the most unsupportive,’” the statement said.
The resident doctors were unceremoniously relieved
of their jobs after the Minister of Health, Prof.
Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Wednesday, issued a directive
terminating the residency training programme for
doctors in the country until further notice.
A statement by the Deputy Director, Press, Ministry
of Health, Isiaka Yusuf, said the resident doctors had
been frustrating the government’s move to contain
the Ebola virus.
The statement said NMA made good its threat of
June 11, by calling out its members for a strike,
despite government’s intervention meetings and
dialogue.
The government said it had extensive deliberations
with the leadership of the NMA, where agreements
were reached on the 24 demands and a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by
both parties.
It said in the midst of the strike, the government
also sought the attention and intervention of some
eminent personalities to prevail on the NMA
leadership to respect the ethics of their profession
and end the strike while the dialogue continued.
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