This has increased the frustrations of the health-seeking Nigerians who patronise public healthcare facilities in Nigeria, thus subjecting them to hard times
Resident Doctors under the umbrella of National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has commenced nationwide warning strike over the prolonged captivity of one of their member, Dr. Ganiyat Popoola.
Their withdrawal of services has left the patients in the care of few available Consultants who were, hitherto, assisted by these Resident Doctors that constituted larger number of doctors in the health care facilities.
According to the Association, Dr. Popoola who was a Registrar in the Department of Ophthalmology at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna, was abducted on December 27, 2023, along with her husband and nephew. While her husband was released in March, Popoola and her nephew remain in captivity.
NARD President, Dr. Dele Abdullahi, said the warning strike will be for seven days, and “an to register their displeasure with the inability of the government and security agencies to rescue one of our colleague who has been in captivity for nearly eight months.”
He explained that the strike will be total, and during the strike, there will be no concessions, and there will be no emergency care. “Before now, we had protested in all tertiary hospitals across the nation to demand Dr. Popoola’s release but that has not been done hence the decision to temporarily withdraw our services nationwide.”
Expectedly, this has increased the frustrations of the health-seeking Nigerians who patronise public healthcare facilities in Nigeria, thus subjecting them to hard times.
As a result of the strike, skeletal services are being provided for patients in various public health care facilities in Abuja and expectedly, other parts of the country, as only the consultant doctors offer services in the hospitals.
However, it was gathered the some of the doctors, out of their benevolence, promised to adopt the telemedicine system for some of their patients, while some insisted they would stay away from the hospital facilities until the warning strike is over.
– Sun