Just In : Patient’s relatives shoot Doctor dead inside Hospital
Following the killing of a Delta-based doctor, Uyi Iluobe, by aggrieved relatives of a patient, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has threatened to embark on an industrial action if the doctor’s killers are not prosecuted.
The NMA, which stated this in a statement signed by its president Uche Ojinmah, condemned the doctor’s murder, which reportedly
occurred on Saturday in Oghara area of the state.
The Association expressed shock and sadness at the alleged murder of the Doctor by relatives of a patient, saying the act can never be justified.
While disclosing that the doctor died from gunshot injuries, the NMA said attackers have now taken violence against doctors and other healthcare workers from injuries
The group said: “It is unbelievable that in the face of a debilitating medical brain drain, the few doctors that patriotically decided to stay back and take care of our fellow citizens are being murdered by same Nigerians,” the statement reads.
“While we sympathise with the family of the patient that was lost, we strongly condemn this murder and call on the Government of Delta State, and the Inspector-General of Police to, as a matter of urgency, to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to book so as to assuage the pain we feel. A man should not be murdered for the selfless act of being on duty on New Year’s Eve.”
Meanwhile, the south-south zone of the NMA said it is working with the Delta state branch to unravel the circumstances behind the incident.
According to The Cable, the association called on security agencies to step up their efforts to arrest the perpetrators within five days, after which the association will not be able to guarantee the rendering of normal medical services in the south-south zone.
The association also resolved that members of all NMA state branches in the zone should henceforth put on black armbands as a sign of mourning and that a press conference should be held in Delta on Wednesday.
It added that a one-week total shutdown of hospitals in Delta state would commence after the press conference.
“If the law enforcement agencies do not fish out the murderers of our colleague at the expiration of one week, the whole states in South-South zone of NMA will down tools,” the communique reads
