DCTORS IN C’RIVER START AN ONGOING STRIKE

Tunji Wusu –

In support of one of their own who was kidnapped on Thursday from her home in Calabar, doctors in Cross River went on a complete and indefinite strike on Sunday.
This is stated in a statement released following an emergency general meeting (EGM) on Sunday in Calabar and signed by Dr. Felix Archibong, chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Cross River section.

It should be recalled that on Thursday, July 13, at around 7.30 p.m., armed men posing as patients abducted Dr. Ekanem Ephraim, a physician at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), from her home.

The doctors remarked that Ephraim has remained in captivity despite all of their attempts to secure the release of their colleague.

The association then decided to take the following action.

To begin a complete and permanent withdrawal of medical care with immediate effect in support of our member who is still in the custody of her kidnappers.

All hospitals in the state, including mission, federal, state, and private hospitals, will be affected by this medical service removal.

The State government should use every tool at its disposal to ensure our member’s prompt and unconditional return into the hands of her kidnappers.

They continued by saying that the NMA in Cross River was aware of the suffering its decision to stop providing services would cause the locals, but they pleaded with the appropriate security organizations to ensure the prompt release of their kidnapped member.

This wasn’t the association’s first strike in response to the kidnapping of one of its members in Cross River, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).