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Tag: Nigerian Medical Association (NMA)

  • NMA accuses Obaseki of insincerity

    Edo State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has accused Governor Godwin Obaseki of not showing any sincerity in the revamping of the health sector.

    It said the response of Governor Obaseki to its threat to withdraw clinical services from hospitals in the state after the expiration of the 21 days ultimatum was laughable.

    The NMA had last week issued a 21-day ultimatum to Governor Obaseki to meet its demands or face indefinite strike action but Obaseki described the NMA demand as unrealistic.

    State Chairman of NMA, Dr. Osaigbovo Emmanuel, in a press statement issued yesterday said Governor Obaseki’s response was one of threat and intimidation.

    Dr. Osaigbovo said the state government has refused to open a line of communication with the NMA since the issuance of the ultimatum.

    Osaigbovo stated that the state government would have sought immediate solutions to issues raised by the NMA instead of ‘resorting to cheap blackmail and threats.’

    According to the statement “What is unrealistic in asking that the state government employ more doctors to man the 34 health facilities in the state so that our people can get better care? What is unrealistic in asking for better facilities in the hospitals to enable the health personnel make better evaluation, diagnosis and consequent management of patients?

    “The plan by the government to employ private doctors when we withdraw our services is quite laughable as the doctors will probably have to come with their personal x-ray units, theatres, decent consulting rooms, drugs, laboratory equipment or maybe build new hospital because these things are grossly lacking in Edo State.

    “Even the best of trained hands will be handicapped in the discharge of their duties in Edo State due to lack of working materials and equipment.

    “The private Doctors to be employed by the government will have to be Doctors from Uganda, Togo or Lesotho or maybe India who will perform operations with candle or torch lights and who will work for days and weeks without rest because there is inadequate manpower.

    “The Edo State NMA therefore appeals to all well-meaning Edo people, including our revered traditional rulers, religious leaders, civil society organizations to intervene in this matter.

    “The 21-days ultimatum has since started counting and the government has less than two weeks to address the issues or face the painful option of a prolonged total and indefinite strike action by all doctors in Edo State.”

    Read Also: http://staging.thenationonlineng.net/obaseki-nma-patient/

  • Strike: Doctors’ demands unrealistic – Obaseki

    Following plans by the Edo State Chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), to embark on strike, Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said that the state government is making arrangement for private health care providers to offer essential services to patients in state government hospitals, as the demands by the NMA are unrealistic.

    Obaseki said this when he received the newly inaugurated members of the Governing Board of the University Of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) at the Government House, in Benin City on Monday.

    He said the state government will write to the national body of NMA as the Edo State chapter of the association “has threatened to shut down the health system in the state following their unrealistic demands.”

    Obaseki said: “We believe that the doctors’ demands are unrealistic, having been part of the steps taken so far to improve the conditions of service of medical doctors in the state. They see what we are doing and yet have threatened to go on strike because I cannot afford to fulfil 100 per cent of their demands.”

    He noted that the doctors are not fair to the state as  “we agree with their demands but cannot afford all the demands now, rather we will spread them across four years of this administration, but the Edo NMA rejected the offer and insists on embarking on strike.

    “We are looking at various ways to execute our health reforms but will not allow anyone to blackmail us. We have been open, honest and have carried NMA along in all our activities till date. We will be talking to private health practitioners to help us and I have told them that I cannot afford all their requests at once. We are already making backup plans to take care of our people, if we are constrained to.”

    Read Also: NMA threatens to go on strike in Edo

  • Five doctors docked for stealing N13.6m

    Five doctors docked for stealing N13.6m

    A former Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association ( NMA ) in Edo State, Dr. Emmanuel Ighodaro  and four other medical doctors were on Wednesday arraigned before an Edo State High Court for allegedly stealing N13.6m.

    Other accused persons who were former executives of Edo NMA are Dr. Anthony Owolabi, Dr. Quincy Atoghengbe, Dr. Raymond Ogieva and Dr. Oseremen Gabriel Ogbebor.

    They were arraigned before Justice Efe Igbonmwonba for offenses bothering on stealing and conspiracy to commit  fraudulent false accounting.

    A 21-count charge were preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC ).

    Prosecuting counsel, Dr. Ben Ubi, said the accused persons committed the offence while acting in their capacities as officers of Edo NMA between 2013 and 2014.

    The charges read in parts, “The defendants, knowingly and privies to omitting the UBA Account No. 1010717142, a material particular in an account maintained and operated by the NMA in its  audit report for the accounting year 1st August, 2013- 31st July, 2014”.

    “They also conspired among themselves to make a false entry in the audit report of the accounting year, 1st  August, 2013-  31st July 2014 of the association to wit, inserting anticipatory income in the report to cover a loan of six million naira yet to be received and thereby committed an offence.”

    The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges after which their Counsel, Bello Imadegbelo (SAN) applied for their bail.

    Justice Igbonmwonba admitted the defendants on bail on N1m each and a surety who must be gainfully employed.

    Igbonmwonba said the sureties must present evidence of tax payments.

  • Police confirm release of kidnapped FETHA CMD

    Police confirm release of kidnapped FETHA CMD

    The Ebonyi Police Command on Sunday, confirmed the release of the kidnapped Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (FETHA) Dr Emeka Ogah.

    It can be recalled that Ogah was kidnapped on Nov 15 at Ajaokuta, Kogi on his way to Abuja on an official assignment.

    The CMD was kidnapped alongside the hospital’s Director of Administration, Chief Christopher Ogbu and Mr Sylvester Ugama, the Director of Finance while his driver escaped with bullets wounds from the abductors.

    ASP Loveth Odah, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), gave the confirmation in an interview with NAN, noting that Ogah and others have reunited with their families.

    “The kidnap victims were released by the abductors on Saturday night around the area they were abducted and they are presently in good state of health.

    “I cannot confirm whether ransom was paid for their release but the kidnapping unit of the command is working in collaboration with its counterpart in Kogi to track and arrest the kidnappers,” he said.

    Dr Ifeanyi Ariom, Secretary of the Nigerian Medical Association ( NMA ) Ebonyi chapter, thanked God for the release.

    “We appreciate the demonstration of love and solidarity shown by all, particularly the Ebonyi government,” he said.

    Gov. David Umahi had on Friday while addressing protesting doctors and other hospital staff, vowed that his administration would ensure that the victims were released without harm.

    “When they are released, I will come into the hospital and find out if bad eggs were involved because this matter does not matter whether it is a state or federal institution.

    “The rights of our people would always be respected and anybody who doesn’t want to stay here can go to another place and stay.

    “People who feel that an Ebonyi man cannot be a CMD will be made to know that an Ebonyi man can be such and if the CMD is doing some wrong things, we can sit down and discuss such,” he said.

    NAN

  • Ekiti NMA clamp down on quacks, illegal medical centres

    Ekiti NMA clamp down on quacks, illegal medical centres

    Nigerian Medical Association ( NMA ), Ekiti State chapter, on Sunday, says it has signed a pact with the state government for introduction of accreditation of health facilities to fish out operators of illegal medical centres.

    The NMA Chairman in Ekiti, Dr Sunday Omoya, made this known at a news conference to round-off the 2017 Physicians’ Week and  Ordinary General Meeting of the medical body.

    He said the medical body regretted the activities of some unregistered medical practitioners in the state.

    He added that such activities had been affecting medical practice and denting the image of members, saying “this must stop in the overall interest of health security of residents of the state.”

    He commended the Gov. Ayo Fayose-led state government for implementing Consolidated Medical Salary Scale ( CONMESS ) for all categories of doctors in the state, noting however that the policy had not been beneficial, owing to the six months salary owed doctors.

    Omoya said a total of  300 people were offered free medical treatment by doctors at Ipole Iloro in Ekiti West Local Government Area during the 2017 Physicians’ Week.

    He added that NMA held medical education for rural dwellers on  dieting, hypertension, HIV/AIDS and other ailments ravaging the people at the

    grassroots.

    He urged government to pay members’ salaries and fund health institutions, particularly the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital(EKSUTH), to improve healthcare delivery in the state.

    He noted that “we have set up a committee to look into the issue of quackery. We reached an agreement with state government on accreditation and re-registration of all health facilities in Ekiti.

    “We are looking into the genuineness of health facilities to know if they go beyond the scope for which they are registered.“If a facility is registered as a maternity or clinic or hospital, it can’t go beyond that scope but in Ekiti, some maternity homes are performing surgeries and this is wrong and dangerous.

    “Defaulting facilities will be shut and the owners prosecuted accordingly.”

    He commended the state government for being among the five states that met 70 per cent  benchmark in immunisation coverage.

    On the issue of non-payment of salaries, Omoya said: “We are pleading that even if all the arrears won’t be paid, government should bring us

    as per with our colleagues in civil service.

    “As we speak now, we are owing government six months salary, while civil servants are owed five months and this is demoralising doctors in health institutions.”

    NAN

  • Osun doctors embark on a seven-day warning strike

    Osun doctors embark on a seven-day warning strike

     The Osun State Chapter of Nigerian Medical Association ( NMA ) on Monday ordered its members working with state government to proceed on a 7-day warning strike over unpaid salary arrears and poor working condition.

    The NMA Chairman in the state, Dr Tokunbo Olajumoke gave the directive after an emergency general meeting of the association in Osogbo.

    Olajumoke said the 7-day warning strike was coming after the expiration of a 21-day ultimatum issued to the government by the association to meet its demands.

    “The 7-day warning strike is to commence immediately because the 21-day ultimatum issued to the state government to look into the pending issues raised by the doctors has expired.

    “Within that 7-day there will not be any form of clinical activities in all the state- owned hospitals and no doctor is allowed to treat any patient for that seven days.”

    Olajumoke stressed that the warning strike was to allow the government to engage the doctors in a dialogue to look into their demands.

    Other demands by the doctors are nonpayment of CONMESS salary scale, over taxation, mutilated and outstanding salaries of doctors, among others.

    Reacting to the strike, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Rafiu lsamotu, appealed to the doctors to be patient with the state government , saying their requests are being looked into.

    Isamotu said the government was committed to providing quality healthcare delivery for the masses as well as ensuring that the doctors get the best from the government of osun.

  • NARD violates Trade Dispute Act – Ngige

    NARD violates Trade Dispute Act – Ngige

    The Federal Government said that the National Association of Resident Doctors ( NARD ) had violated section 18 of the Trade Dispute Act of the Federation of 2004 by embarking on strike.

    Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment said this at a conciliation meeting with the leadership of NARD on Wednesday in Abuja.

    “I do not want to be legalistic about it, because you have breached section 18 of the Trade Dispute Act, but all these are the sacrifices we have to make,” he said.

    It would be recalled that on Aug. 31, a Memorandum of Understanding was reached the minister and the Executives of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), NARD.

    Others are Ministry of Health, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Budget Office of the Federation and National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.

    It would also be recalled that NARD had begun strike on Sept. 4, after reaching a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the Ministry of Health on its six-point demand.

    “We all signed that agreement which was like a collective bargaining agreement. One of the clauses there was that NARD should revert back to their National Executive Committee (NEC).

    “They should present the agreement which was a CBA with a view to shelving the strike that they had proposed.

    “We then adjourned the meeting to Nov. 2 within which period we expected the implementation of the items on the agreement.

    “We were surprised that at the NEC meeting, the CBA that was entered into was repudiated and the Association embarked on strike.

    “So, by section 18 of the Trade Dispute Act of the Federation, T8, T9, 2004, conciliation starts by the Minister.

    “No party is allowed to stage a lock out either for employees or embark on strike against the employers.

    “In this ministry, we act as conciliators and in such situation. Even though I am a government minister I am a Chief Conciliator. If the government is wrong, I will tell them that they are wrong.

    “If the employee is wrong, I will say so and at the end of the day, we will find a way to conciliate and make for an equitable industrial relations”,he said.

    He said that as a chief conciliator, it was imperative to reconvene the meeting and look at the CBA, if there were issues that the association felt that their interest were not properly captured.

    He noted that NARD would have written to the ministry, adding that the alternative would not have been to embark on a proposed strike, adding “that is not industrial relations.

    “I want to commend the President of NMA for making out time to come and all areas of dispute would be resolved in this meeting so that the doctors can go back to their patients.

    “For me, any other strike can be handled in a way that you do not care about the little time you lose.

    “But in essential services, especially in medical service, we can’t replace lives that were lost.

    “That is why we had to reconvene this meeting few hours after you started your strike and we hope that this meeting will resolve the rough edges in the CBA if there are any.

    “I assure you even before we start this meeting that we have had a government side meeting and reviewed the agreement and I want to say that within 48 hours, everybody has started implementation of this CBA, ‘’he said.

    He said that the Accountant General’s office had done what they were supposed to have done and had remitted the money from the short fall to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    Earlier, Mr Mike Ogirima, NMA President commended the minister for reconvening the meeting.

    “ We have listened to you and that is why we are here. We hope that the trust that was not there when MoU was signed would be restored at this meeting.

    “Because once that trust is restored and evidences of implementations of those six point demands are seen, I hope this will be the shortest strike by Resident Doctors.

    The News Agency report s that at the time of filing this report the minister and the stakeholders were still in a closed door meeting.

  • NMA laments mass exodus of doctors from Ekiti govt hospitals

    NMA laments mass exodus of doctors from Ekiti govt hospitals

    The Ekiti State Chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has raised the alarm over mass exodus of consultants and specialists in various fields of medicine from government hospitals.

    The body revealed that the exodus was sparked by non-payment of relevant allowances to the newly-employed consultants and gross underpayment of the previously employed consultants.

    The NMA Chairman, Dr. Sunday Omoya, disclosed this in a communique issued at the end of its Annual General Meeting (AGM)/Scientific Conference held in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

    According to the communique was made available to The Nation on Monday, the theme of the AGM/Scientific Conference was “Stemming the tide of infrastructural decadence and brain drain in the nation” while the sub-theme was “taming the surge of sudden cardiac death in the nation.”

    Apart from poor welfare of doctors, Omoya urged the state government to take urgent action to prevent the collapse of specialist care in secondary health facilities.

    The NMA chief also said payment of 72 per cent of the appropriate salary of doctors in the local government system was a source of serious concern to the association.

    To address the situation, Omoya said the NMA mandated its executives to “use every means possible to ensure payment of relevant allowances to consultants and specialists in the employ of the State Hospitals Management Board.

    He also stressed that the association would intensify negotiation with the Local Government Service Commission and the Primary Health Care Development Agency to ensure that appropriate salary is paid to doctors in the local government system.

  •  NMA laments menace of quack doctors in Ogun

     NMA laments menace of quack doctors in Ogun

    … Seeks stiffer sanctions against culprits

     

    Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Ogun State chapter, on Tuesday expressed worry over the activities of quack doctors in the state, warning that the menace may become a monster, if not effectively tackled with urgency.

    The State Chairman, Dr. Abayomi Olajide, expressed the concern in Abeokuta, the state capital, at the 2017 edition of the chapter’s “Annual General Meeting and Scientific conference with the theme: Anti Quackery, a seemingly unending battle.”

    Abayomi recalled that the state government recently shut down six health facilities in Ifo Local Government Area because people running them were suspected of being quack doctors.

    He said apart from the injuries, sometimes irreversible one, they cause unsuspecting patients, quackery in medicine, he added, constitutes loss of revenue to professional doctors.

    He noted that the Ifo incidence was a mere tip of the ice berg, saying a lot of people are practicing as “quack” doctors in the state.

    The NMA state chairman who lauded the State government for wagging war against quack health practices in the state, expressed the hope that a  proposed anti – quackery bill to the state Assembly if passed into law, could go a long way in addressing the problem.

    Also, Dr. Adegboyega Ogunwale,  one of the resource person for the conference, urged the NMA to embark on a mission of ” naming, shaming and jailing” any person found to be a quack doctor in the state.

    Adegboyega who is a Clinician at the Neuro – Psychiatric Hospital, Aro – Abeokuta, urged the body tackle to also tackle the menace to preventing “registration” of professional doctors and health facilities through “false pretense.”

    The resource person who spoke on the sub – theme: The Place of Criminal Justice in the Anti – Quackery War, equally made case for the easing of the strategy for registering and obtaining the certificates for professionals  as well as collaboration with the Police to arrest and prosecute quack doctors in the state.

  • Kogi will not sack striking doctors – Commissioner

    Kogi will not sack striking doctors – Commissioner

    The Kogi Government on Monday confirmed that it was recruiting additional 230 medical doctors, but rejected suggestions that the new officers would replace their 163 colleagues currently on strike.

    “Yes, we are recruiting new doctors, but we won’t sack those already in the system just because they are on strike.
    “We have only 163 doctors; that is certainly not enough for Kogi. That is why we are recruiting more hands,” health commissioner Saka Audu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja
    Audu said that it was “misleading, mischievous, erroneous and unkind” to suggest that government would sack the medical personnel and replace them with new ones.
    “It is not only doctors that are being recruited; we are also engaging pharmacists, medical laboratory scientists, pharmacy technicians, nurses, health record officers and medical laboratory assistants,” he said.
    Audu reaffirmed government’s commitment to continue to negotiate with the NMA toward resolving the impasse between the association and the government.
    The Kogi chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) had accused the Kogi government of taking steps to engage new hands before sacking its members.
    NMA, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Dr. Godwin Tijani, alleged that government had concluded plans to recruit a new set of medical doctors to replace those on strike, starting from June 19.

    Tijani explained, however, that the NMA was not against the recruitment of doctors.

    “We have not advised doctors against taking up jobs with the Kogi government.

    “We have only advised government on the timing of the exercise and the motives, because the recruitment is coming at a time doctors are on strike over salaries and other entitlements.“We are only notifying our colleagues to prepare for massive sacrifices,” he said.

    He said that the NMA was open to dialogue aimed at solving the current industrial disharmony in the health sector so as to bring succour to the suffering masses.

    NAN reports that the NMA, on June 5, directed its members to resume the strike they had suspended on May 13, citing government’s failure to fulfill its promises to meet doctors’ demands.