FG sacks striking resident doctors

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voluntarily withdrawn from the residency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withdrawn their services, with others from the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.