The Nigerian Medical Association in
Cross River State has suspended the strike which it embarked upon on March 12,
following the kidnap of the wife of their colleague, Mrs Christiana Ekanem in
Calabar. Vanguard gathered that Mrs Ekanem was kidnapped from her home in
Calabar on March 10, and was released on March 21 after spending 11 days in the
kidnapper’s den.
The Nigerian Medical Association in Cross
River State has suspended the strike which it embarked upon on March 12,
following the kidnap of the wife of their colleague, Mrs Christiana Ekanem in
Calabar. Vanguard gathered that Mrs Ekanem was kidnapped from her home in
Calabar on March 10, and was released on March 21 after spending 11 days in the
kidnapper’s den.
The suspension of the strike was contained in a
communique jointly signed on Monday by the NMA Chairman in the state, Dr Agam
Ayuk, and the Secretary, Dr Ezoke Epoke, both from the University of Calabar
Teaching Hospital. “The indefinite withdrawal of medical services in both
private and public hospitals across the state is hereby suspended and medical
and dental practitioners in Cross River are directed to resume duties
immediately. “The Association remains grateful to everyone who supported the
family and the Association to ensure her safe release. “The poor security
situation in Cross River remains a daily reality as citizens continue to live
in fear; we therefore reiterate our call on the state government to show more
political will and urgently put measures in place to secure lives and
properties as her primary constitutional responsibility. “NMA sincerely hopes
that this is the last time, she would have to take the difficult decision of
withdrawing medical services in the event of the kidnapping of her members and
also hopes that our collective resolve will not be put to test again”, he said.
He added that NMA will not fail to invoke its collective resolve of Jan. 8,
2018 which state that “NMA in Cross River shall withdraw all medical services
without any notice anytime a doctor or dependent is taken captive in future”.
He appealed to the state government to provide
security for all residents in the state with a view to help them discharge
their duties of saving lives accordingly. “The Covid-19 pandemic is a reality
with increasing number of confirmed cases which stands at 35 in Nigeria as
reported by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Federal Ministry of
Health as at the time of this press release. “We therefore call on the state
government to enforce ban on large gathering and review to a more stringent
limited number as the risk increase. We advise citizens to take seriously
recommended guidelines on social distancing, hand hygiene and respiratory
hygiene. “NMA in Cross River shall be donating hand sanitizers to public and
private hospitals across the state to support the efforts of government at
preventing and containing Covid-19. “The Association calls on well-meaning
Crossriverians, politicians and philanthropists to make donations of monetary
or medical equipment to hospitals across the state”, he said. Ayuk disclosed
that NMA would be working with professional bodies like National Association of
Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Association of
Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria and others to ensure that hospitals
have Standard Operating Procedures to guarantee safety of health care workers.
“The risk of healthcare workers becoming infected is more than three times as
high as the general population. “We therefore call on government and management
of hospitals to ensure that all healthcare workers have running water and
sanitisers for proper hand hygiene, wear regular surgical masks and use gloves
for all patients interaction”, he said.