From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
In compliance with the just started nationwide strike of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), the President of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi branch of the association, Dr Golibe Ikpeze said the branch joined the strike at 8:00am yesterday after duly being briefed to comply with the parent body directives.
He said the striking doctors at the NAUTH had already left clinical services in the hands of the Consultants and others who are not members of the NARD. He explained that the patients were briefed about the development with the assurance that the Consultants were still on ground.
“As members of the NARD, we ensure one hundred percent compliance to the strike which was the resolution we had after a meeting in Umuahia, Abia State. Non of us would go against that. Doctors are still in the hospital who are not our members. Our members counselled the patients on what what is happening and we handed over the care to Consultants.
“We have given the Federal Government more than one hundred days to address the issues at stake to no avail which included paucity of doctors, non-payment of salaries owed and allowances, issues of recruitment, postings of house officers and all of that. We have complained to make sure that these issues are resolved but they are still there and nobody is doing anything about them, ” he said.
He added that the the doctors are still handling the surge of the Covid-19 pandemic with government doing nothing to appreciate the hazards the doctors face. According to him, the Federal Government did not seem to demonstrate any commitment to some of the NARD members who have “fallen in the line of service”.
He said that the NAUTH NARD members would always comply with the national body to resume duties anytime the Federal Government complied.
Reacting, the Acting Chief Medical Director of the NAUTH, Dr Joseph Ugboaja assured that the hospital would continue to do its best to ensure that patients were taken care. He also assured that the Consultants and other health workers would be doing their job as the issues were resolved. He told the patients not to panic as the hospital would not relent in its efforts to care for them.