Minister
of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has directed Chief Medical Directors, CMDs, and
medical directors, MDs, of federal government tertiary health institutions to
fill the vacancies created by resident doctors who have “abandoned” their
training programme.
Apparently
disturbed by the directive by the Federal Government to the various teaching
hospitals to replace the resident doctors, the leadership of the National
Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, has agreed to suspend its strike at a
meeting with other health sector stakeholders on Tuesday.
The Association’s
leadership also appealed to members to suspend the strike until the next
meeting scheduled for July 14.
The decision emanated from the meeting between
resident doctors and other stakeholders, organised by the Speaker, House of
Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogàra in Abuja.
The meeting will reconvene in
three weeks to review progress made in the implementation of agreements reached
in the meeting slated for July.
Resident doctors a.k.a. trainee doctors, that
constitute the main support force and backbone for medical practice in the
public sector, embarked on a nationwide strike on Monday, under the auspices of
the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD.
However, according to Boade
Akinola, spokesperson of the ministry, the directive is contained in a circular
signed by Amina Shamaki, permanent secretary of the ministry. The circular
read: “It has come to the notice of the management of the ministry that some
resident doctors in your establishment have voluntarily withdrawn from the
residency training program by refusing to report for training without
authorisation. public service rule, PSR 030402 (e) is relevant.
“This is in
spite of the ongoing negotiations on their demands put forward by the representatives
of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) under the auspices of
the Nigerian Medical Association.
“In view of this development, you are hereby
directed to replace all the doctors that have withdrawn their services, with
others from the pool of applicants for the training programs in the various
disciplines in order not to create ominous gap in training with attendant
disruption of health care delivery in your facility.
“Meanwhile, the ministry
is working with the panel on the review of the residency training programme in
Nigeria, led by Professor Wole Atoyebi, the registrar of the National
Postgraduate Medical College, to fast-track the development of a comprehensive
blueprint for postgraduate training of doctors in the country.
“Please, ensure immediate compliance.”
Former
President Goodluck Jonathan sacked 16,000 resident doctors on August 14, 2014
for participating in a nationwide strike called by its national body. The
doctors were on strike for more than six months during the Ebola outbreak in
the country. The doctors, however, were recalled two weeks after the directive.
In a related development, relatives of patients at the University of Benin
Teaching Hospital, UBTH, Benin City, yesterday, thronged the hospital to seek
the discharge of sick relatives following the death of a fire victim, Mrs.
Margaret Edobor, 65, who died at the accident and emergency ward of the
hospital, following the ongoing nationwide strike by resident doctors.
The late
Edobor, a 65-year-old mother of seven died from an infection at about 2:30pm on
Tuesday, was said to have been admitted a month ago but could not continue her
treatment due to the strike. Elder brother of the deceased, Mr Sunday Ogbewe,
lamented tthat though his late sister had responded to treatment but gave up
the ghost when she could not get adequate care.
“She had a fire accident and
she was admitted here (UBTH). When the strike started, there was no doctor; so,
she contracted an infection.” He also said that all efforts by the family of the
victim to plead with the doctors to attend to her proved abortive as they
insisted that they were on strike.
Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/06/fg-sacks-striking-resident-doctors/
Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/06/fg-sacks-striking-resident-doctors/
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