The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has described the recent sacking of 16,000 doctors by the federal government as a bad move which should be reconsidered.
In a statement by its President, Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar, the NLC said “The recent mass dismissal of resident medical doctors in federal hospitals across the country by the Federal Government is ill-advised, and therefore should be re-considered and reversed given prevailing health challenges.
“What the country needs urgently is recruitment of more health professionals, well equipped public hospitals, and a well-organised health system capable of responding to the health concerns of our growing population and not sacking of any category of health personnel.
“We believe the Federal Government was misadvised and also misled by this action.
“It is clearly unwarranted to sack doctors just as we are collectively faced with the challenge of the Ebola virus. It is even more dangerous to sack medical personnel in a country of over 170 million people with a ratio of one doctor to over 5,000 patients,” he stated.
Umar also urged the government to give special attention to the protection of health workers, who were more endangered by the Ebola outbreak by providing them with the requisite work tools and motivation.
“The Federal Government needs to carry out an urgent audit of our public health sector to determine the state of the sector in terms of equipment, personnel and funding,” he stated.
In the same vein, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) also implored the Federal Government to reverse its decision to sack the striking doctors, warning that the nation could not afford any calamity such sack might cause.
thank God NLC has finally spoken. But they should be doing more than that. Doctors have always supported their resolutions.
Its now that people are beginning to see that doctors are outnumbered in Nigeria..
More has to be done, seriously
Doctors should be very careful. By the way they are not the only health workers in the field. we have nurses who are more exposed to risk than so called Doctors and they are being paid 5000 as hazard allowance . What about the lab technicians, pharmacist, cleaners and others. IF they should be self centered like Doctors that means the country will co laps. More so, NLC has to be very careful and not trying introduce politice. Let us just face the fact.
NLC should not be told that government employed doctors in Nigeria have done more harm than good to the Nigerian people bc of their selfishness. They should go to their private clinics to practice their profession & stop disturbing d peace of this country.