Magnus Eze, Enugu
The Enugu State House of Assembly Committee on Health has condemned the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the resident doctors of the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUT-TH) Parklane, Enugu.
They accused the medical doctors of embarrassing not only the State government but also the residents and people of Enugu State.
Chairman of the House Committee, Mr Sam Ngene, who expressed their displeasure while on an oversight function at the teaching hospital on Thursday, described the doctors’ action as most inauspicious, coming at a time the world was grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that the striking doctors had contravened their Hippocratic Oath without considering the well-being of the people and instead chose to behave like ‘artisans’.
Ngene also wondered why the resident doctors absconded from duty even when they had received their April salary including the 25 per cent COVID-19 allowance offered by the State government.
In addition, the lawmakers blamed the doctors for not taking advantage of the all-encompassing health workers’ salaries committee instituted by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to present their case.
He said: “The association of resident doctors is at this point trying to embarrass themselves and not the government. Why I said this is because I’m very much aware that about now they have all received their April salary. They have all received their entitlement as it regards the COVID-19 palliatives and all other entitlements. My worry is why they chose to embark on strike at this critical time with the ravaging pandemic of COVID-19 without taking full consideration of the dangers it poses to the general public and the masses. I don’t understand it.
“They are a professional organization and I give them that respect so at this point they are not showing that core value of doctors which is saving and protecting lives, having that passion to save lives. Will I say they have the passion to save lives when at this period they have decided to go on strike? The thing they failed to understand is that when you pick up a stone and throw in the market, you never can tell who the stone will land on; whether it is your mother, your father or your brother or your friend or your relative? It could be anybody. I want the general public to know that these people are becoming highly insensitive. They are becoming more artisans than professionals. Let them know that they are not being owed any single salary.”
The committee after interacting with the management of the hospital inspected facilities at the hospital including one of the COVID-19 Treatment and Isolation Centres in the State.
At the centre, Ngene said: “We came to see things for ourselves and to assure our people that there is nothing to fear. The State government is on top of the situation.”