30 Sacked Doctors: Doctors Association Issued 21-day Ultimatum To Hospital Management

The doctors’ ultimatum was in a statement signed by its President, Drs Amina Japheth, and Sesugh Iorfa on Tuesday in Makurdi.

Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), has issued a 21-day ultimatum to the management of the hospital to reinstate its 30 members sacked or face an indefinite strike action.

The doctors are also demanding the adoption of full implementation of the 2017 Medical Residency Training Act (MRTA) as currently obtained in training institutions across the country.

The ARD said the hospital management did not follow due process in sacking the doctors.

“The management has given over 30 doctors sack letters; have rescinded some letters and have also upheld others in a haphazard and subjective manner that does not follow the laws that regulate the service of resident doctors in the country.

“The training of resident doctors in Nigeria is regulated by the 2017 MRTA, which is very explicit on how a doctor should enter and leave residency training.

“The Act allows resident doctors to train and pass all examinations over a period of an eight and a half to nine years against the six years that the management of the BSUTH wants to impose on ARD members,” the statement said.

It also stated that the only body that had the right to recommend the exit of resident doctors from the residency programme was the National Postgraduate Medical College (NPMCN).

The statement wondered where the management of the hospital derived its powers in sacking the members from the residency programme when the last batch of letters from the body recommending the exit of doctors was in March and none of its members was affected.