Doctors Continue Protest over Insecurity in Abia
From Emmanuel Ugwu in Umuahia , 09.24.2010

Members of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Umuahia zone yesterday joined their Aba counterparts to protest the “worsening security threat to doctors in Abia State. This followed the kidnap and gruesome murder of one of their colleagues.

The protest, which led to the shut down of both public and private hospitals in Aba on Thursday, snowballed into Umuahia on Friday as medical doctors operating within the state capital gathered at the Federal Medical Centre Umuahia, carrying placards and chanting protest songs .

Some of the placards read: “Doctors say no to kidnapping, Doctors are now endangered species, stop kidnapping doctors,” while singing, “all we’re saying kill us no more.”

The angry physicians wore their white overall and black arm bands as a sign of mourning of their slain colleague, Dr Stanley Uche, who was kidnapped at Osisioma and later killed and his body dumped at Umuika in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government even after his abductors had collected N2.5 million ransom.”

Chairman of Umuahia zone of NMA, Dr Felix Agwu, said that insecurity problem in Abia has continued to affect medical practitioners as many of them have fallen victim more than once while some others have been killed by the hoodlums.
According to him, the criminal elements sometimes come into the hospital and pose as patients only to kidnap unsuspecting physicians and turn round to demand ransoms and in some cases collect the ransom and kill the victim.

He said that while the situation has relatively improved of recent in Umuahia, it has worsened in Aba, adding that many hospitals and clinics have closed down as the doctors have fled the Enyimba city in droves and relocated to other places to save their dear lives.

The NMA chairman called on government to take urgent action and arrest the worsening security situation in the Abia, insisting that “the problem is not insurmountable”.

He said that all public and private hospitals in Umuahia would remain closed for 24 hours, adding that only inpatients would be given medical attention during the protest period, which would terminate by 8.00am on Saturday.