TO forestall further loss of lives, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has given directive to her members nationwide to treat bomb blast victims and other life-threatening emergencies in NMA designated hospitals across the country.

  The directive was issued to all state branches of the NMA in the wake of twin bomb blasts in Kaduna on Wednesday and another in Kano, Thursday.

  Chairman of the Lagos State arm of the NMA, Dr Tope Ojo said this Friday to disabuse minds of the public against the claims that the striking doctors were insensitive to the plight of Nigerians, especially at this critical time.

  Ojo said notwithstanding their grievances and “deliberate attempts by some agents of allied workers to paint we doctors black” in the eye of the public, lives remain sacred and “doctors have never shy away from attending to medical emergencies” wherever necessary.

  He said it should be of note that the doctors quickly responded to victims of the bomb blast and are still sustaining treatment of these helpless Nigerians in hospitals designated by the NMA in these States.

  “This is the directive NMA national body has given and we our members have carrying it our, undeterred by public bias,” Ojo said.

  Ojo, who was recently elected as the Lagos NMA Chairman, however, added that the national body would continue to press for their demands through the strike action, till the government addresses lingering issues in the interest of the health sector.

  Contrary to the “dubious tendencies by reckless detractors” that had engaged in the act of misinforming Nigerians about the current strike, he said their decision to down tools was not for wage increase, but against government’s decision to concede headship of the medical institutions to allied health workers and create anarchy in the health sector.

  Ojo said: “It is with a deep sense of concern that I reflect on the ongoing strike action considering the continuous, yet avoidable morbidity and mortality that it brings.

  “This unfortunate debacle is forced on the Nigerian people by the conspiracy of a ruling class that thrives on money/material legislation, or how else will anybody explain why a government should be willing to concede the headship of the medical institutions in a country to allied health workers, a decision that is alien to civilisation and only synonymous to intellectual degeneration and barbarism?

  “Why will the same government not concede to an air hostess to fly a plane, or a court bailiff to be a judge in court session, or the head of a university maintenance unit to be the Vice Chancellor, because of the so-called opportunistic explanation of ‘team work’?”

   Ojo stressed that NMA is not against normal career growth of any allied health professional, adding that the doctors’ position is that the situation must not arise where there would be anarchy and disruption of the chain of command that is bound to jeopardize patients’ lives.

  He appealed to all well-meaning Nigerians to put pressure, by all necessary means, on the Nigerian government to do the needful and save the health sector from imminent collapse.

  First Vice Chairman, Dr Peter Odusote noted that NMA had only gone on strike after all reasonable and possible means of dispute resolution had been exhausted. 

Odusote said it was unfortunate that dialogue never seems to work in dispute resolution in this clime. “The only method that seems to work, which we did not try is, that of money-lobbying. NMA, as a body, could not because we are not like others and also do not see the need for it. 

   “We have just been pushed to the wall in this matter. More so, don’t forget that we too are part of this society. It is not only patients that suffer the strike; doctors and their relations are also not left out,” Odusote said.