MEMBERS of the Association of Nigerian Resident Doctors (ANRD), University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) chapter, have embarked on an indefinite strike following the shooting of one of their colleagues in the leg over the "rejection and non-deposition" of the bodies of 35 policemen slain by Boko Haram gunmen at the hospital's morgue.
The policemen were killed during the multiple attacks on police, prison and military formations by the Boko Haram gunmen at Bama on Tuesday, which claimed 55 lives and destroyed properties worth millions of naira.
Speaking on the strike, Chairman of the Resident Doctors at UMTH, Dr. Mohammed Yahaya of the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology said: "We have resolved to embark on this indefinite strike caused by the shooting and injuring of one of our colleagues by the Nigeria Police over the non-deposition of 35 bodies of killed policemen in the UMTH mortuary today (Thursday). The attacks on the hospital facilities by the policemen were uncalled for and against the ethics of the medical profession in the country.
"This was not the first time the police harassed our staff, including some of the doctors, because the hospital could not meet the demands of some security agents in depositing the bodies of killed persons in the morgue, which has already been over stretched. There are also rules and guidelines that should be followed and adhered to in accepting any human corpse for deposition in the mortuary."
He said the police authority was on Wednesday advised to find an alternative means of depositing the 35 bodies as the UMTH morgue was filled up.
The national leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) had on Thursday directed all doctors in the UMTH to immediately withdraw from the insecure practice environment until such a time when the security and safety of all health workers and properties in the hospital could be guaranteed by the Federal Government.
The NMA also called on the federal, state and local governments to urgently provide adequate security in all healthcare facilities in Nigeria to halt the increasing spate of violent attacks, kidnapping, robbery and assassination of doctors and other health workers which if not checked may prompt a nationwide withdrawal of medical services.
The directive was issued by the President of NMA, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, following yesterday's "unwarranted brutality and assault of doctors and other health workers of UMTH by men of the Nigeria Police Force (Mobile Police men) on account of the inability of the hospital morgue to accommodate the bodies of slain police men brought in from Bama town."
The NMA President in a statement made available to The Guardian said the mayhem unleashed on innocent health workers of the hospital, including the Acting Chief Medical Director, led to vandalisation of the hospital properties, while health workers and patients of the hospital sustained various degrees of injuries, including a fracture of the femur sustained by a Resident doctor in the hospital.
Enabulele, however, advised the Borno State branch of NMA and the NMA Affiliate bodies to put in place modalities/special arrangements to safely attend to in-patients, particularly critically ill patients during this difficult period.
Reacting to the development, the Borno State Police
Commissioner, Alhaji Yuguda Abdullahi said the Police have appealed to the striking doctors to call off the strike.
He said: "I am appealing to the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Tahir Othman to quickly intervene and resolve the misunderstanding between the Police and the striking doctors over the rejection of 35 bodies of policemen killed at Bama on Tuesday."
The Guardian