the sack of 16,000 resident doctors to the Chief Medical Director of LUTH, Professor Akin Osibogun for onward delivery to President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu.
Hundreds of doctors, yesterday, took to major streets in Lagos, Ibadan, Akure in Ondo State, to protest against the purported sack of 16,000 resident doctors.
The doctors, who claimed
that the protest was part of the efforts to register their displeasure and also
make the government to reverse the sack, were carrying placards with
inscriptions such as: Chukwu must go, Das All,’
‘No more overseas checkup with tax payers’
money,’ ‘We say no to Chukwu and Jonathan,’ ‘Sack of 16,000 resident doctors,
death sentence for Nigerians!’ ‘Sack Ebola, not Doctors,’ ‘Sack Boko Haram not
Doctors’, ‘Sack Chukwu not Doctors” and ‘No to casualisation of doctors,’ among
others.
Taking turns to address the
gathering, the protesting doctors declared that the sack of 16,000 doctors were
not acceptable to them.
According to them, the
Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, as at this year registered 26,000
medical doctors and if 16,000 are sacked only 10,000 will be serving 170
million Nigerians.
Addressing the protesters
which include medical students and friends of the doctors, State Chairman of
the association, Dr. Tope Ojo, who addressed journalist at the premises of the
Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, said that the sack of resident
doctors in all Federal Teaching Hospitals in the country would lead to imminent
collapse of the health sector.
In Ibadan, the doctors
started the protest around 12noon from the association’s office at Total Garden
and passed through the main entrance of the University College Hospital, Ibadan
where the State NMA Chairman, Dr. Muideen Babatunde Olatunji and the National
Association of Resident Doctors, UCH chapter, Dr. Franklin Anor addressed
newsmen.
The doctors dressed in
their laboratory coats displayed placards with various inscriptions such as
“Sack Ebola, not doctors”, “No, to oppression of doctors”, “Is this our reward
for saving lives?”
In Akure, led by the Chairman of the
association in the state, Dr. Bamidele Betiku, they said the decision of the
Federal Government would make the country lack specialised doctors and make
adequate health care delivery elusive to the masses.
The protesting doctors
matched from their office on Igbatoro road to the governor’s office in
Alagbaka, Akure singing solidarity songs
Some of the placards
displayed read “Sack Onyibuchi now”, “Nigerian Doctors Say No to Exploitation”,
“MOH, Why Kill Residency Training”.
The Chairman said the
doctors were protesting to make government correct the mistake of sacking the
resident doctors across the country.
Meanwhile, NLC in a
statement by its President, Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar, said “The recent mass
dismissal of resident medical doctors in federal hospitals across the country
by the Federal Government is ill-advised, and therefore should be re-considered
and reversed given prevailing health challenges.
Similarly, Trade Union
Congress of Nigeria, TUC, implored the Federal Government to reverse its
decision to sack the striking doctors, warning that the nation could not afford
any calamity such sack might cause.
Bobboi Kaigama and Musa
Lawal, respectively, said “while we understand the plight of the Government in
having to simultaneously contain both the threat of Boko Haram to national
security and the challenge of the ebola disease, we consider it very precarious
for it to insist on sacking the doctors at this time. On the other hand, we charge all the doctors
to listen to the voice of reason and the cries of Nigerians and end (or at
least suspend) the strike and return to work, if only to resolve the ebola
mystery on our hands. Even enemies strike
a truce and unite when faced by a more dangerous mutual adversary.”
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