The Association of Resident Doctors, Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital branch said the Bayelsa State Government has refused to do anything about the Memorandum of Understanding it signed with the Nigerian Medical Association on August 14, 2020, to domesticate and implement the Medical Residency Training Act, which led to the suspension of its strike in 2020.
The association said the state’s refusal to honour its promise had made it difficult for resident doctors to go for courses, seminars and register for examinations, especially now that the postgraduate examination bodies have increased their fees by almost 100 per cent.
This was contained in a communiqué signed by the President, Dr Aseimo Namara, and General Secretary, Dr Ambaka Frank, after an emergency meeting of the association.
The communiqué read in part, “If this trend continues, the manpower gap in the areas of specialised and sub-specialised medical care in our dear state will continue to widen as well as increase brain drain.
“Congress observed that the chronic and perennial shortage of manpower in the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital has become unbearable, with its negative attendant effects on patient healthcare as well as the health and wellbeing of our members, who are physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted and fatigued.”
The association regretted that the development is coming despite assurances of the state government in the past two years to employ more doctors.
It regretted that the total number of resident doctors in the teaching hospital is less than the number of resident doctors in a core department in the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa.
The association lamented that the appeals to the Bayelsa government over the last 30 months had not yielded tangible results.
In its resolutions, the association demand action from the state on the passage and transmission of the MRTA to the Bayelsa State House of Assembly for domestication.
The communiqué added, “Congress respectfully demands that the state government should commence payment of medical training grants through executive fiats as is done in other states as a stop-gap measure, while we await the domestication of the MRTA. This will enable our members to register and prepare for the April/May postgraduate examinations this year.
“Congress also demands that more Resident Doctors be employed in the Teaching Hospital without further delay to reduce burnout effects and fatigue on our members, thus converting brain drain to brain gain.”
The doctors then issued a 21-day ultimatum to the state, taking effect from February 1 till February 21, stating that if the above concerns were not adequately addressed, it would embark on a week-long warning strike without recourse to further notification.
Source:Punch
