‘Doctors’ strike contributed to my son’s death’

 

National Publicity Secretary of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, and spokesman of the All Progressives Congress in the South East, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, on Friday blamed the nationwide strike embarked on by medical doctors in government hospitals for the death of his son.

Speaking at the burial of his son, Mathias Koso Okechukwu, at Eke, Enugu State, Okechukwu also appealed to the federal and state governments to provide adequate funds for the health sector.

Okechukwu explained that consultant pediatricians were absent as a result of the strike when his son was rushed to the National Hospital, Abuja. 

The late Mathias passed on on August 10. 

Okechukwu lamented that millions of Nigerians die as a result of shabby treatment in poorly equipped hospitals.

Urging the government to address the situation, he said, “Even if it needs to borrow, as we have entered the debt trap again, the government should please improve funding of the health sector to save some of us who grossly lack the means to travel abroad for treatment.”

He noted that “scant attention” is paid to the health sector because the president, governors and local council chairmen find it more convenient to travel abroad for medical treatment.

Okechukwu said the government was not treating its medical doctors well. 

“Otherwise how can we in the midst of plenty treat our doctors shabbily and hence encourage their mass exodus? 

“Is it good news that the best Nigerian doctors and nurses are found abroad?

“I can’t understand why only N5,000 is paid doctors for hazard allowance?,” he asked. 

Faulting the Federal Government’s decision to stop the training of resident doctors, he asked, “Does it make sense for the Federal Government to stop the training of resident doctors? 

“I am yet to find good answer for the poor welfare of Nigerian doctors, especially when they hear of billions being siphoned by public officials without sanctions,” Okechukwu added. 

However, he expressed hopes that with the sustenance of democracy in the country, Nigerians will begin to enjoy the benefits of good governance. 

“Our hope on democracy is a rational hope, especially now that Nigeria has attained the zenith of liberal democracy, where two major political parties prevail in a multi-party system, where neither PDP nor APC will win the 2015 presidential election with more than 53 per cent of the votes cast and none can win two thirds of the national and state assemblies. 

“It means there shall be positive compromise and incremental growth of the citizenry, not impunity,” Okechukwu said.