TheCable

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the federal government to recall sacked resident doctors, adding that it was misadvised and misled.

The president of the NLC, Abdulwaheed Omar, on Monday said that the country needed more doctors in the face of the Ebola threat, arguing that there was a ratio of one doctor to five thousand people in the country.

“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,” he said.

“What the country needs urgently is recruitment of more health professionals, well equipped public hospitals, and a well organized 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 five thousand patients.”

Omar further said that the federal government needed to carry out an urgent audit of the public health sector to determine the state of the sector in terms of equipment, personnel and funding.

“While workers, and indeed all Nigerians, are at great risk and require adequate protection, those in the medical sector should particularly be sufficiently equipped and given incentives to guarantee their safety and boost morale. No country can afford, specifically at these trying times, to neglect its health sector, including the personnel that work there,” he added.

Last week the federal government issued a notice terminating the appointment of resident doctors in all its hospitals.

The Nigeria Medical Association, in response, directed its members to reject the termination letters.