Anambra doctors suspend strike after three days

After three days, Anambra State's medical doctors decided to call off their indefinite strike. In response to the abduction of one of their colleagues, medical professionals operating under the Nigerian Medical Association's (NMA) auspices called for a strike. 

The statement was not made on the spur of the moment because the association had already warned of the abduction of Dr. Steven Ezeh, an Ihiala private practitioner and the chief medical director of Vera Clinic Ihiala. 

On August 15, he was kidnapped from his home in Umunnamehi Village, Ihiala, Ihiala Local Government Area. 

A day after the event, on Monday, the NMA gave Ezeh's release a 48-hour ultimatum in an emergency general meeting.

It said: “The kidnappers had requested 40 million ransom at first and subsequently N30 million within 24 hours. A 48-hour ultimatum is hereby given to the Anambra State Government to secure the immediate release of Dr Ezeh.

“If at the expiration of the above timeline, our member’s release is not secured, all the doctors in Anambra State under the aegis of NMA-Anambra will down tools until our member is released.

An emergency meeting will be convened within the next 48 hours to review the progress made so far.”

In response to their warning, the association convened on Thursday and ordered its members to immediately discontinue clinical services in all state hospitals, both public and private. 

This marked the beginning of the suffering for the ill in the state.

Source