Over the past few weeks, there has been rise in the kidnap of Doctors especially at Ekiti state. As the Immediate past National President of NMA, Whats your reaction to this?It is disheartening. It is something that should not be heared of. The kidnap didn’t start today. Recall that early this year, there were kidnap of doctors at River state which lead to the death of one (Dr Samuel Okpara in the hands of the abductors).That of Ekiti is disheartening considering the number of doctors involved. Infact not only Doctor were kidnapped, other health workers. A Nurse, Mrs Magaret Aladenike , a theatre Nurse with the Federal Teaching Hospital Ido-Ekiti. It is sad because, it is the same doctors that labour daily to ensure that the health sector is functioning that the kidnappers now target. It is the same doctors who make sacrifice to ensure that Nigerians are healthy that are now subject of Kidnap. Even in times of war, whenever you identify yourself as a doctor, you are spared considering the nature of your work. This condition is not only disturbing it is pitiable.
Nigerian Doctors’ are now at the mercy of Kidnappers. What do you think is responsible for this?
To me, it is the general belief that doctors are rich. This account for the rise in the number of students struggling to study medicine and Surgery. The belief is no longer true. Doctors live average life. Infact, there are cases of doctors in hospitals nationwide still being owned allowances despite the volume of work they do.
Are there effect of this kidnap on the health worker most especially doctors ?
Of course yes. There are lots of effects. Kidnapping has got grave psychological effect. As regards doctors, first, it affects their interpersonal relationship. It grossly affects them at work and reduces service delivery. As you know, no one wants to render service in its full capacity in an insecure environment. Everyone craves for their security first. A doctor that has suffered in the hands of kidnappers could be emotionally down and you will agree with me that emotional imbalance will affect the doctors performance at work.
What do you think is the solution to this problem of kidnap of health workers most especially doctors?
Well, in curbing the kidnap of doctors, there are various level of engagement. In August 2009, when members of NMA in Edo state were being kidnapped, I lead the first ever March Against Kidnapers.
First, at the state level, our leaders must learn to protect their citizens of which doctors form a part. Section 14, Subsection 2b , Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly puts it that it shall be the responsibility of government to ensure security and welfare of the people. That part of the constitution has stated the duty of the government..
Also, there has to be a National shift/ Paradigm shift. There is the need to cater for the welfare of people in order to reduce their propensity to criminality.
There is also the need for government at all levels to invest in the welfare of people by means of job security, social infrastructure and more egalitarian opportunities. The earlier we are able to do this, the better for us to curb this menace of doctors kidnap.
I am not quite surprised that the security agencies are finding it hard to handle the kidnapping issue. Recall ht over the years, there has been declining investment in equipping, and upgrading security outfits. That was what led to the clamour of Nigerian years back for state police Nigerians saw that the National security outfit was especially the police was ill equipped t deal with these kidnnapers.
Secondly, there must be investment in equipping, repositioning, of security agencies, by way of capacity building, reprofessionalism, equipment purchase, better intelligence gathering mechanism , training as well as retraining of the security forces.
On the community level, we must go back to the state of communal life. Those days where everyone was one another’s brother. We must begin to alert ourselves and put in place mechanism to catch the unscrupulous elements because they reside in our communities. Imfact, in the olden days, whenever a thief was caught in a household, he would be ostracized and this made people desist from crime. Every community leaders must be able to detect identify those living in the community. In summary, we need community vigilante.
Whats do you think the NMA should do as regard the issue?
As for the doctors, especially those in Ekiti, they must begin to work out their own security. This is not necessarily by arming themselves with guns, but ensuring that they keep to simple security tips. They should for the time being stop introducing themselves as doctors. The NMA in the state has warned them to remove the association stickers from their vehicle for now. They should be careful of where they go, how long they stay in a particular environment. Never keep late nights and if they must go out late at night, it should be with security backing. Those on night duty should ensure they go early enough to the hospital.
Nigerian Doctors must be careful of those they bring into their houses because over 60% of kidnappers rely on informant within the family. If they must bring strangers into their home, they should know their background.
Send in your reactions to 2348181140032 (Eddykurrent)
0 comments:
Post a Comment