Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan has sacked all resident
doctors in all federal government hospitals across the nation for not
teaming up with government to fight the outbreak of the deadly Ebola
Virus Disease, EVD, in the country.
A statement from the Federal Ministry of Health said the action was
taken to enable government appraise the challenges in the health sector
in a bid to fight the Ebola scourge.
The statement signed by Alhaji Isiaka Yusuf, Deputy Director of
Press, Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, Nigeria said the resident
doctors had been frustrating the move by the government to curtail the
Ebola virus from spreading.
President Goodluck Jonathan:
Nigeria’s President
According to the statement, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA,
made good its threat of 11 June, 2014 by calling out its members on
industrial action on 1 July, 2014 despite the Federal Government’s
successive intervention meetings and dialogue including extensive
deliberations with the leadership of the NMA on 25 and 26 June 2014,
where agreements were reached on each of the 24 demands and a Memorandum
of Understanding signed by both parties.
It said in the midst of the strike, the government had also
cultivated the attention and intervention of some eminent personalities
in order to prevail on the NMA leadership to respect the ethics of their
profession and end the strike whilst the dialogue was ongoing, adding
that some of the personalities included the Governor of Delta State, the
Secretary to Government of the Federation, members of the National
Assembly, among others.
The government stressed that it has implemented more than 90 percent
of its responsibilities as signed by both parties, adding that at the
conclusion of each meeting, the NMA promised to call off the strike but
would return another day to say that they could not.
“For the whole of July 2014, these doctors did not work yet
government, owing to the emergency situation in our country, paid them
the July salaries with allowances such as call duty allowance, teaching
allowance, hazard allowance, etc, believing that this magnanimity of
government would appeal to reason for NMA to call off the strike.
“This strike can be considered as one of the most insensitive steps
to be taken by any association or a labour union in the history of this
country. Pertinent to the issue under discussion are the current
security challenges in the country with the attendant mass casualties.
The situation has been compounded by the recent importation of the Ebola
Virus Disease into Nigeria on 20 July, 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 Ebola disease are
now the most unsupportive. All efforts by Government to contain this
disease are being frustrated by the continued industrial strike action
of the NMA,” it lamented.
The statement added that “the Federal Government has therefore
decided that Residency Training Programme in Federal Government
Hospitals be suspended pending the conclusion of the ongoing appraisal
of the challenges in the health sector.
“This directive is without prejudice to any emergency measure that
may be necessary for the hospital management to immediately restore full
medical services. The Federal Government wishes to reassure the public
that optimal medical health care delivery will be sustained in our
hospitals.
The prolonged strike had also witnessed the resignation of the NMA
president, Dr. Kayode Obembe, after his statement calling off the strike
was countermanded by other officers of the association.
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