By Dennis Agbo

LEGISLATORS in Enugu State House of Assembly have disagreed with Resident Doctors at the State University Teaching Hospital, ESUT-TH for withdrawing services in a critical period as this time.

The State legislators said that the doctors’ industrial action was a negation of their Hippocratic Oath and urged them to return to duty posts.

The state House of Assembly Committee on Health made the condemnation while performing  it’s oversight function at the hospital.

Chairman of the committee, Hon Sam Ngene accused the resident doctors of embarrassing the government and people of Enugu state, and likened the action to an artisan behavior.

Ngene wondered why the resident doctors absconded from duty even when they had received their April salary including 25 percent COVID-19 allowance offered by the state government.

He blamed the doctors for not taking advantage of the Health workers’ salaries committee constituted by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to present their case.

Ngene said: “The ARD is a professional organization and I give them that respect but at this point they are not showing that core value of doctors which is saving and protecting lives, having that passion to save lives.

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“The thing they failed to understand is that when you pick up a stone and throw in the market, you never can tell who the stone will land on; whether it is your mother, your father or your brother or your friend or your relative?  It could be anybody.

“I want the general public to know that these people are becoming highly insensitive. They are becoming more artisans than professionals. Let them know that they are not being owed any single salary.”

The Committee after interacting with the management of the hospital, inspected facilities at the hospital including one of the COVID-19 Treatment and Isolation Centres in the state.

Vanguard