‘NMA, Responsible, Professional Body’

After two weeks of strike
and a rejection of federal government appeal to Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) to end this strike, the association has said that it is a responsible body.
Chairman of NMA, Rivers State chapter, Dr. Ibitrokoemi Korubo, who made the assertion in an interview in his office in Port Harcourt, said “we are law abiding citizen of Nigeria, we have only democratically withdrawn our services and we have done so responsibly”.
He stated that the strike will continue indefinitely unless government addressed the issues of “relatively, skipping and confusing nomenclature”.
“we have done the responsible thing by ensuring that private hospitals remain open, NMA covers all doctors, both in private and public hospitals, we made sure certain hospitals where the patient required special care are kept open”, he added.
The Rivers NMA boss noted that it was about time that the federal government took steps to make people oriented policies, adding that doctors could not continue to work in sub optimal conditions.
According to him, “We cannot continue to work in an environment where we cannot give optimum care to our patients. We want our patients to walk into the hospital and get quality care and services. “Our struggle is for the soul of the medical profession”.
Meanwhile, some medical doctors in the rural areas said they have been able to cope with the situation, noting that the health centres and other government owned hospitals designated to handle emergencies seem to be over flowing.
A medical doctor in Omoku, in Ogba/Egbema Local Government Area of the state, who preferred not to be mentioned, stated that hospitals, which had doctors working, were implementing a memorandum of understanding, signed between the federal government and NMA to be available during emergencies.

Tonye Nria-Dappa