By: Admin
LOKOJA, North-Central Nigeria – The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), has attributed the incessant mass exodus of medical doctors out of the country to the insecurity that has ravaged the nation.
Kogi State Chairman of NMA, Abubakar Hassan, stated this in Lokoja while speaking to journalists on the ongoing nationwide strike embarked upon by the association.
He said medical personnel have become the prime targets for criminal elements in the country despite their service to humanity.
While lamenting that the reoccurrence of kidnapping of medical doctors has crippled the health services in Kogi state and the nation at large, Hassan stressed that there were many unreported cases of doctors who are being held in captivity by their abductors across the country.
He said in a particular North Central State, at least two doctors are currently in captivity, one for upward of one year now while the second happened only recently, adding that the story is the same across the entire country.
According to him, the insecurity in the country is one of the reasons for the mass exodus of doctors from Nigeria to other countries.
Hassan, who stated that down tooling was the last option for doctors to press home their demands, blamed the federal government for failing to provide security for its citizens, noting that it has become a serious hindrance to the practice of the medical profession in Nigeria.