Medical doctors in the Federal Medical Center, Lokoja under the aegis of the Association of Resident Doctors, ARD, on Friday January 13 complied with the directive of their parent body National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, by wearing black coats and bands to register their displeasure in the way and manner Nigeria’s health system is being handled.
Our Kogi State Correspondent reports that NARD had directed its members to carry out peaceful protests by wearing black ward coats and conducting rallies at the expiration of the initial ultimatum given to the Federal Government on January 2.
It would be recall that NARD had on December 19, 2016 given Federal Government up to January 2, 2017 to implement the National Health Act of 2014 and address lingering issues beleaguering the health sector, especially as it affects resident doctors.
The ARD President of Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, Dr. Kennedy Obohwemu, said his members are part and parcel of NARD, and as such he is duty bound to comply with the national directive.
Kennedy said, “With due respect to constituted authority in the Federal Ministry of Health, our actions today have become necessary considering the protracted saga and unfathomable quagmire resident doctors across the country find themselves.
Apart from the fact that we are following instructions from our national body, we believe it is time to take the bull by the horn and address these persistent problems once and for all.
Let the whole world know what resident doctors are going through. Our patients deserve the best of healthcare delivery. We cannot do that when we the healthcare providers are not in the right frame of mind.
The medical profession is going through the toughest of times in recent years. Our black jackets and black bands symbolize the death of our healthcare delivery system. We ask for a resurrection, a revamping of the system, such that the average Nigerian can confidently access quality healthcare at affordable rates.”
Kennedy lamented the pitiable state of Nigeria’s health system, citing the need for Federal Government to urgently intervene and prevent massive exodus of doctors to the outside world, seeking greener pastures.
“More doctors are preparing to leave the shores of our land,” he warned. “Let’s not get it twisted. We are committed to our jobs. But we are limited by infrastructural decay in the health system, dearth of specialized skills caused by lack of training, poor funding of our health institutions and lack of political will to get things done. At the end of the day, it’s the poor masses that suffer”.
“Let it be noted that no one, absolutely no one is immune to the deleterious consequences of the neglect of the health sector. The same hospital one fails to equip today may be the closest hospital that could save one’s life tomorrow.”
Kennedy said that NARD demands are not outrageous. He noted that these issues have been neglected for far too long, thus placing the future of the medical profession in jeopardy.
“We need a uniform template for the residency training programme,” he said. “The structural framework for the programme must be clearly spelt out in a consistent unbiased manner, and applied universally”.
“Since enactment in 2014, the National Health Act is yet to be implemented. This legal document provides a framework for the regulation, development and management of a health system and sets standards for rendering health services in Nigeria. The Act ensures that patients are given the best of healthcare delivery with availability of health infrastructure, while ensuring that the rights of health care personnel are protected.”
Details of the doctors’ demands which was made available to newsmen includes, Quality, efficient, effective and uninterrupted medical services at the Federal Tertiary Health institutions (FTHIs) through the full and immediate implementation of the National Health Act, release and implementation of the white paper on residency training which is the programme that provides the specialist manpower for tertiary and specialist medical services which are grossly in short supply in the country due to poor service/work conditions, poor remuneration, inadequate training facilities/spaces and brain drain, all leading to oversea medical tourism with loss of huge capital to foreign countries.
On the policies of ‘No work no pay’ viz-a-viz ‘work with no pay’, NARD maintained that while government are at liberty to apply that rule, equity demands should be accorded to its and not being selective.
“If it is not universal, it should not be selective and if you are unable to pay for work done, then there is no moral justification to apply ‘no work, no pay’ as done to only striking doctors while sparing other striking workers in the health sector and other ministries”, Kennedy added.
The doctors also demanded for the Implementations of July 14, 2016 agreement with government and the inclusion of resident doctors in the contributory pension scheme, deduction and remittance of our pensions including the counterpart funding from government to our PFAs in line with the Pension Remittance Act of 2014.
Credit: Olatunde Odimayo
