Medical doctors from both the public and private sectors in Cross River State yesterday grounded Calabar, the state capital to protest abduction of their colleague, Dr. Emem Udoh.
The doctors, under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Cross River State chapter, marched to the Governor’s Office in Calabar.
The doctors, led by the state NMA Chairman, Dr. Effiong Mkpanam, said they had embarked on a sit-at-home strike to protest the abduction.
The doctors, who wore black during the demonstration, besieged the governor’s office with placards, some of which read: “Release Emem Udoh now,” “Unconditional release from kidnappers of Dr. Emem Udoh,”
“We demand an end to kidnaps, torture and extortion of medical doctors,” among others. Udoh, a nursing mother and registrar in the Paediatrics Unit of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, was kidnapped on Monday night by gunmen and whisked away.
The NMA Chairman, Mkpanam, who spoke when the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mrs. Tina Agbor, appeared to address them on behalf of Governor Ben Ayade, vowed that unless the abducted doctor was released, “all public, private and missionary hospitals will be closed to patients in the state”.
He said: “We are not safe and we want people to know that we cannot go to work because we are not safe. We want unconditional release of Dr. Emem Udoh who is a nursing mother and until she is released, all the doctors in Cross River State will sit at home. Anybody who wants medical treatment should go to the neighbouring state.”
Mkpanam regretted that the state was no longer safe for the citizenry as government was looking helpless even when Dr. Usang Ekanem was kidnapped last week and was only released on Sunday before Udoh’s abduction. He said until Udoh was released, doctors had taken a decision to sit-athome “and this will last for the whole period that Dr. Emem Udoh will be held by the abductors. We will not go back until government ensures the release of Udoh because it is the duty of government to protect the citizens.”
A mild drama, however, occurred when, after listening to the position of the doctors, Agbor said; “Cross River has not changed; we are still the safest state in the country”.
This elicited boos from the doctors. Agbor said government was doing everything possible to secure the release of the abducted doctor, noting that the governor was unhappy with the security situation in the state.
She said: “It is unfortunate that soon after one of the doctors was released, another one was abducted, and this time, a woman. I am a woman and right now, the State Security Adviser is on the streets trying to solve this problem. You did not need to come here to remind us of our duty, because we are doing something about it.” – New Telegraph.
