OWERRI – The Imo State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has threatened to start a three-day warning strike from Monday if its demands are not met by the government.
The Chairman of the association, Dr Emeka Obioha, who made the threat in Owerri on Thursday, said it was the fall out of the association’s meeting on May 29 where the members agreed to fight for their rights in both the state and federal services.
Obioha lamented the state government’s continued refusal to address NMA’s demands to enhance quality healthcare delivery to the people.
He said one of the reasons for the strike was the 10 months’ salary arrears owed doctors at the General Specialist Hospital, Umuguma by the state government.
He also said that the posting of doctors to various parts of the state without the necessary allowances to enable them to settle down for business was another of the reasons.
The chairman said the non-resolution of the differences between resident doctors at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri and the hospital management which had led to a two-month-old strike was also an issue.
He appealed to both the management of the hospital and the Federal Ministry of Health to take urgent steps to avert the impending strike.
Obioha said the strike was inevitable if their request was not granted before the ultimatum as the association held series of meetings with the state government without yielding any positive results.
“We are constrained to adopt the option of strike because the Federal Government and the Imo State Government have failed to address our legitimate demands which are in the best interest of the health sector,’’ he explained.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the resident doctors on June 3 vowed to continue their strike even when their national body called off its three-day nationwide warning strike.
The president of the association, Dr Thyword Agu, had told NAN in Owerri that his members would not end the strike until their demands were attended to by the management of the hospital. (NAN)
