Strike: NMA Backs NARD, Lament Poor Working Condition

Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has declared support for striking resident doctors, with a warning to the government against steps that would further worsen the precarious situation of medical service delivery in this country.

NMA FCT chairman, Dr Charles Ugochukwu Ugwanyi, stated this yesterday during a thanksgiving mass at the Holy Trinity Church, Abuja, as part of activities marking the NMA annual general meeting.

He urged the government to address the cause of the ongoing strike rather than threatening the few remaining doctors in the country, adding that only 25,000 out of 110,000 registered doctors are presently practicing in the country.

His words: “110,000 doctors who have been found registrable, who have passed through that register but as of April 2022, that’s exactly a year plus now, we have just less than 36,000 that renewed their practicing license, and 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 and it is definitely going to lead to some further complications.

“So, we are really advising that the government should serve better in what they are about to do because it will hurt the system at this point”.

The chairman also decried what he described as poor working conditions of health workers in the country, which he said has resulted in the death of a medical doctor in Lagos State.

He said, “We are dressed in black today because we are solidarising with our brothers and sisters in the NMA Lagos State branch. In the last one week, the news is filled with very bad and sad developments in the NMA Lagos State branch where a young doctor, a house officer in the line of duty, was trapped in a lift that collapsed and lost her life.

“We are all in a very mourning mood. We are indeed not happy with the poor working condition which on this occasion has resulted in the death of this young doctor with a very bright future ahead, and we are calling on the relevant authorities and government at different levels that manage different hospitals to take the safety of the work environment very seriously”.