From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt
Resident doctors at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), on Monday announced that they are not participating in the ongoing nationwide strike called by the national body of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).
National President of the NMA, Dr. Francis Faduyile had announced an indefinite strike action for all medical doctors in public hospitals across the country to press the need for the Federal Government to implement their demands.
The exercise began Monday. Although he further announced that their members at the various covid-19 isolation and treatment centres are not joining immediately, they have been given two weeks to assist the sick but to mitigate against the number of possible deaths as the strike lasts.
However, doctors in Rivers especially, those in UPTH have assured that they aren’t going anywhere. They rather urged the Federal Government to facilitate the processes to meeting the demands of resident doctors in the nation, as already been outlined to it.
Read Also: COVID-19: Doctors strike may cause loss of lives, says Minister
The President of the Association of Resident Doctors, UPTH chapter, Dr. Samuel Ameh, who spoke in Port Harcourt, noted that the branch decided not to join in the strike at the moment because of the current predicament faced by people in the face of the pandemic.
Ameh stated that the body had studied the development and found out that NMA was already working to achieve the demands of the body and needed time to achieve the purpose, adding that it would not be in the interest of the people of the Rivers State if they join in the action.
He said: “We have looked at the issue of the present strike holistically and we have decided that for now, we will not be embarking on the nationwide strike as a local chapter and the reason has to do with the fact that we understand that the leadership of the NMA are negotiating on modalities to actualise some of those demands.
“The fact that we also recognise the peculiarity of the situation in the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital as well as the country at large because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the situation it has created, we realized that all health workers are playing essential roles in helping to stem the tide of the disease and to reduce the impact on all patients in the country.
“It should also be on the order that the demands made by Resident doctors, we understand them and we fully agree with them, however, when putting everything together, we have seen that it won’t be in the best interest of the general population especially, Rivers people if we embark on this strike.”
He urged the Federal Government (FG) to endeavor to meet the demands of the body, adding that many doctors and other health workers involved in the fight against covid-19 have tested positive to the virus.
“We are aware that this pandemic is not selective, we have patients that includes health workers and doctors at the various treatment centres, some of our colleagues are equally manning the testing centers as well.
“So when health workers demand for such basic things as hazard allowance, insurance policy, it should be taken with seriousness, as much as we have decided not to embark on this strike, the Federal Government must also play its own role in ensuring that health workers get a fair deal.”
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