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RESIDENT doctors across Nigeria on Thursday commenced industrial action, following the instruction of their national body, National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), in defiance of the agreement signed in a memorandum of action (MoA) with the Federal Government.
The association said the agreement was not new, as it was earlier signed in 2017, though no attempt had been made by the government to work with it.
It, therefore, accused the government of not being sincere in its dealing with the union. The association had signed the agreement with the Federal Government to shelve the planned strike at midnight on Wednesday, after a marathon meeting between the government team, led by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige and the leadership of NARD.
President of NARD, Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, made the call on the urgent need to ban officials from traveling abroad for medical purposes during an interview with Daily Trust in Abuja.
He said doing so will bring the desired improvement in the country’s health sector and also save the lives of millions of poor Nigerians who do not have the means of traveling abroad to attend to their health challenges.
Dr Okhuaihesuyi said: “If medical tourism is banned in Nigeria, it will encourage the public officials to be able to develop the health system in the country.”
Asked if that would not put many lives at risk considering the poor state of the country’s health system, and the fact that many people who embark on medical tourism do so for serious and chronic diseases such as kidney, cancer and heart diseases, among others, he said: “We have one of the best set of health workers in the world, and that is why most countries tend to scavenge on doctors in Nigeria.
FG threatens NARD as doctors begin strike after agreement punchng.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from punchng.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Patients at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, are grappling with scarcity of water and a reduction in the number of surgeries done in the hospital.
The situation, when Nigerian Tribune did an on-the-spot assessment of the toilets in several wards and departments, showed a situation that ranged from no taps running water to big black bowls that had little or no water in them, damaged toilets, water closets with urine deposited in them not flushed and locked toilet doors.
The situation was peculiar in toilets of the Casualty Accident and Emergency Complex, floors that house the departments of paediatrics, Central 4 Labour Special care baby unit, surgery, ophthalmology, medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, anaesthesia, electro-medical workshop, instruments, psychiatry, pathology, theatres 1 and 2, 3 and 4.
High compliance in UCH as resident doctors commence strike tribuneonlineng.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tribuneonlineng.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.