In Kaduna state, unions and association of doctors and other health workers have given the state government a five days notice to go on strike, unless the two abducted nurses are rescued.
This among other demands were part of the resolutions in a communique, reached at the end of the emergency extraordinary meeting on the state of insecurity in the state as it affects their professional duties.
The communique was signed by Dr Aliyu Sokomba, Dr Umar Musa, Abdullahi Mohammed and Mrs Comfort Bawa and was issued to journalists on Saturday .
Part of the communique reads:
“That we observed with great sadness the state of insecurity in the State, this follows the abduction of two (2) Health workers at Rural Hospital Idon, Kajuru LGA of Kaduna State on Thursday, 22nd April 2021. It is very unfortunate that the life saver’s life is not safe in Kaduna State.
“That Hospitals/Clinics in the State are not well secured, being that they are manned by poorly motivated and under trained private security personnel and had not been paid for over a year, they are insufficient and not equipped to handle the situation of insecurity.
“That There is a change in tactics of the Bandits, we are fully aware and it is meant to cause panic by attacking soft target such as our hospitals.
”That lack of proper lightening and fencing in our Government health facilities.
“The shocking retrenchment and conversion of health workers to casual by the Kaduna State Government.
“To this end we resolved the following :
“The State Government should immediately deploy armed Security personnel in all our facilities and other possible targets to ensure that health care workers are adequately protected in order to provide the continuum of health care services to all residents of the State as and when needed.
“We equally call on the State Government and all the relevant security agencies to do all in her powers to ensure that our captive colleagues return to their families safe to boost the confidence of the demoralized Health care Workers in the State.
“We are not oblivious of our sacrifice in this trying time in our LGAs, State and Nation, as such we need a more secured state that is ready and prepared to respond collectively in the face of regional threats to health security through regional partnerships that bring together all affected States and Stakeholders in all relevant sectors.
“Government should gather the best technical support and mobilize the necessary resources for effective and timely implementation of measures that protect the health care workers, the patients and their caregivers.
“Immediate restoration of the retrenched health workers in the state. Security is every body’s responsibility, so every health worker needs to be extra cautious, however, the Government should take responsibility to safe guard the health care workers.
“If the above resolutions 1 and 2 are not met within five (5) working days, we will be left with no choice but to down tool.”
