The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has lamented the poor working condition of doctors working in Nigeria’s healthcare system as it called on the relevant authorities and government at different levels to take the safety of the work environment very seriously.
The FCT NMA Chairman, Dr Charles Ugwuanyi, in a press conference on Sunday, at the thanksgiving mass to kick-Start the 2023 NMA-FCT week programme, also implored all members across the country to take the message to the different levels of government in their various states.
Ugwuanyi said: “We are all in a very mourning mood and while we pray for the repose of her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed.
“We want to send a message out there that the Nigerian Medical Association are indeed not happy with the poor working condition which on this occasion has resulted in the death of this youngster with a very bright future ahead and we are calling on the relevant authorities government at different levels that manage different hospitals to take the safety of the work environment very seriously.”
He added that added members are having a very major challenge in the medical industry where the few doctors that are left in the country have been receiving lots of threats from the government as regards clamping down on their pay simply because they have come out once more to ask for their due which government has promised a long time but has not been able to fulfill.
Ugwuanyi also called on the government not to take steps that further worsen the precarious situation of medical service delivery in the country
He said, “statistically, Nigeria currently has 110,000 doctors who have been found registrarable that have passed through that register but as of April 2022 that’s exactly a year plus, Nigeria has just less than 36,000 that renewed their practicing license.
“As I speak with you we have less than 25,000 doctors that have registered and are practicing in this country today, so this measure that the government is taking right now they should look at it critically because it is not going to do the country any good.
“It is definitely going to lead to some further complications. We are really advising that government should serve better in what they are about to do because it will hurt the system,” he said.
Also speaking, the NMA Chairman of the committee of 36 states and the FCT, Dr Peter Attah reiterated that the association is currently mourning the death of a colleague as a result of the crash of the faulty lift which the state government were aware for over two years said the approach that government actually taking in resolving the resident doctors strike, would not yield to anywhere rather it would completely crumble the healthcare service delivery in the country if they don’t retrace their step and then dialogue with the Nigerian Medical Association and the NARD to see that those demands are actually resolved
“For us, we feel all the demands of the NARD are genuine. They can be resolved not as not all of them require funding that are some that just required just policy statement, the issuance of the circular.”
He expressed disappointment with the approach and the direction that the federal government is actually taking
“On behalf of my colleague, we want to actually advise the federal government to actually retrace the steps that they have taken and dialogue with the NARD and the Nigerian Medical Association.
“It is NARD that provides close to 80% of the health care service provided in the healthcare service delivery in the country.
“If that step is not reversed, there’s that possibility that if the few ones that are working now resigned, tendency that we will also withdraw our services”
“We feel the 36 state chairman plus the FCT have fully given our backing and support to the struggle and will continue to remain with them and support them because they are our members and will not allow any of our members to be victimized as a result of whatever that they’re asking for,” he added.
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