The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) in the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH), Enugu has called on the Enugu State government to increase doctor employment and enhance security within a 14-day timeframe. The doctors said they would down tools if the state government failed to heed to their call.
In a communiqué issued weekend by Ikemefuna Nnamani, the association’s secretary-general, and Chukwunonso Ofonere, the president of ARD-ESUTH, the association disclosed that it has been 120 days since the state government promised the employment of medical officers and resident doctors, but nothing had been done.
The doctors therefore called on the management of ESUTH and the Enugu government “to declare a state of emergency on the employment of doctors in the hospital.
According to them, there should be an urgent approval for the recruitment of medical officers, resident doctors and house officers in the hospital. The statement read: “This recruitment should be focused especially at the Accident and Emergency Department, Surgery Department, Internal Medicine Department, Pediatrics Department, Obstetrics and Genecology Departments.
“Secondly, management should ensure the implementation of safety policies to protect her workers against physical attacks and kidnap within one week as promised by the chief medical director (CMD). “Thirdly, the immediate implementation of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) as our counterpart in other states; even as attached to this communique is the list of the eligible doctors and the financial implications.” The resident doctors said the 14-day ultimatum would terminate on December 1, adding that if the above demands were not met, industrial harmony cannot be guaranteed.
