Doctors protest with coffin in Plateau
Resident Doctors at the Jos University Teaching Hospital on Wednesday protested with mock coffin to ventilate their grievances against the Chef Medical Director, Prof. Edmund Banwat.
The Chairman, National Association of Resident Doctors, JUTH Chapter, Dr. Paul Agbo, told journalists that they were protesting against the sacking of Doctors.
Other grievances include alleged disregard for the order of the National Industrial Court in Abuja which stopped the sacking of doctors in JUTH.
They carried placards with inscriptions such as: “Come and rescue JUTH”, “Illegal sacking by illegal CMD”, “Prof. Banwat, and your tenure as CMD is over”, “Rest in peace to the many souls killed by bad leadership”, Obey Court order”, “Stop illegal sacking of Resident Doctors” and “Vacate office, your tenure is over.”
Agbo said, “In the sack that was carried out early this month, about 16 Doctors were affected. But between August 28 2017 when the court injunction delivered and January 8 2018, the CMD has sacked more than 68 Doctors.
“We are therefore calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene because it is beyond the Minister of Health. The tenure of the CMD elapsed on December 31 2017 and the President should appoint another person.
“Banwat doesn’t have any letter to say he is acting, he doesn’t have any letter to say he is the CMD. So, why is he still there? We will therefore sustain this struggle because we have our means to do it.”
“They have extended some of these postings and the six years is no longer a reality. We really crave for extension and this extension can only come from higher authorities since our CMD is hell-bent on sustaining the conventional six years.”
But when contacted, Chairman of Medical Advisory Committee in JUTH, Dr. Jonathan Karshima, said no Doctor was sacked because their tenure has elapsed.
He said, “I am the CMAC and I am not aware of the persistent protests.
If you said protest will start by 8:00 and you are telling me by 9:41, how am I expected to know? I don’t know if they showed you the letter addressed to them that they have been sacked. Let them show you their letters of engagement.
“What I know is that they came for residency on tenure of six years and if that expires, they are expected to go. From day one, they were given a letter that their tenure expires after six years. But they you have any genuine reason, we will look into it.
“Their ternures expired and they were asked to go. Those who were asked to go felt aggrieved about that. If they know that they have the capacity to protest and get result, why then the protest?”
By Kingsley Chukwuka, Jos
