The Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Prof. Ememabasi Bassey, has urged medical doctors in the hospital to resume work in order to save patients’ lives.
- +Return to work, end strike, UUTH CMD urges doctors
Bassey, who made the call at a press conference in Uyo on Wednesday, urged the Nigerian Medical Association to suspend its ongoing strike at the hospital.
Bassey, who made the call at a press conference in Uyo on Wednesday, urged the Nigerian Medical Association to suspend its ongoing strike at the hospital.
It would be recalled that medical doctors at the hospital embarked on strike following the alleged invasion of the facility by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
It was reported that EFCC operatives were at the hospital in search of Prof. Effiong Ekpe, the deputy chairman of the Medical Advisory Council.
The anti-graft agency’s visit reportedly concerned Ekpe’s alleged delay in authenticating a medical report linked to an ongoing investigation.
Meanwhile, Bassey urged the medical doctors to return to work in order not to paralyse healthcare delivery at the hospital.
“Innocent patients may lose their lives if medical services remain paralysed.
“Let us consider the plight of innocent patients who depend on the hospital for survival,” he said.
The CMD stated that UUTH was the only publicly accessible federal tertiary health institution in Akwa Ibom State, attending to between 600 and 800 patients daily.
Bassey alleged that the EFCC did not officially communicate with the teaching hospital management or present an arrest warrant for Prof. Effiong Ekpe.
“The EFCC did not formally notify the hospital management or present an arrest warrant before attempting to drag a professor out of his office,” he alleged.
Reacting to the development, the EFCC denied invading the premises of the teaching hospital.
Its head of media and publicity, Mr Dele Oyewale, said in a statement that EFCC operatives were at the teaching hospital on an official assignment. (NAN)
