Benue State University Teaching Hospital Sacks 30 Doctors

Amidst fears of Covid-19 pandemic, the management of Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) Makurdi has issued over 30 Residents Doctors sack letters.

BSUTH is one of the isolation centres in the state for the management of Covid-19 pandemic.

The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) BSUTH Makurdi, in a press statement issued yesterday and signed by its President Dr. Amina Japhet Onyewuchi and PRO Dr. Sesugh Matthew Iorfa, said the sack does “not follow the laws regulating the service of resident doctors in Nigeria” and is rather “a disservice to the suffering people of Benue State”.

According to the statement, the 2017 Medical Residency Training Act (MRTA) “allows resident doctors to train and pass all examinations over an eight and half to nine year period as against the six years that the management of Benue State University Teaching Hospital wants to impose” on its resident doctors.

The statement further adds that none of the resident doctors at BSUTH is included on the list of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN), a body which regulates residency in the country for exit and questions where the management of BSUTH got powers to sack them.

ARD BSUTH also accused management of ignoring its role of sponsorship of resident doctors for update of courses and examination as well as refusal to take into account the period of non-accreditation/loss of accreditation.

While calling for immediate withdrawal of the sack letters and reinstatement of those already sacked; the adoption and full implementation of the 2017 MRTA as it is obtainable in other training institutions across the country, ARD BSUTH warned that failure to do so after 21 days they “will have no choice than to opt for an indefinite strike action”.

“It is our belief that within these 21 days of our ultimatum, the amiable Executive Governor of Benue State Dr. Samuel Ortom, His Royal Majesty Orchivirigh Professor J. O. Ayatse, Tor Tiv, the Och’Idoma His Royal Majesty Agabaidu Elias Ekoyi Obekpa, and all other well-meaning sons and daughters of Benue State will prevail on the management of Benue State University Teaching Hospital to yield to these, in the interest of residency training, the medical profession and the healthcare of our people,” the statement concluded.