Jos University Teaching Hospital Sacks 25 Resident Doctors

At least 25 resident doctors working with the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) in Plateau State have been allegedly sacked by the management of the institution.

President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, JUTH branch, Dr. Stephen Lukden, who confirmed the incident on Wednesday, lamented that the doctors were sacked from their residency training before completion.

Lukden said: “Twenty-five resident doctors received letters of termination of their residency training and we have information that some will receive theirs in the weeks/months to come.”

It was gathered that the information about the disengagement of the medics, who were all resident doctors, is causing panic at the hospital which is one of the isolation centres for COVID-19 patients in the state.

In a letter addressed to the JUTH Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Edmund Banwat, the resident doctors asked the hospital management to reverse the sack letters issued to its members, describing the action as unjust and illegal.

The letter jointly  signed by the President of the association, Lukden, and the General Secretary, Dr. Noel Nnaegbuna, observed that the Medical Residency Training Act (MRTA) 2017 which was signed into law by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and gazetted on July 16, 2018, stipulates guidelines on the conduct of residency training programme in the country.

They said the Federal Ministry of Health had also in a letter dated  June18, 2019, directed all Chief Medical Directors in the federal tertiary health institutions  to immediately begin the implementation of the gazetted MRTA acts, and wondered why the JUTH management would go ahead to sack the affected doctors in a breach of the constitution.

The ARD letter dated May 4, 2020, which was copied to the board chairman of JUTH, Medical Advisory Council, Nigerian Medical Association among others, said: “It is sad that this sack is occurring in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic when the federal government is even considering recalling retired doctors to the workforce.

"The unlawful termination of these appointments contravenes the provision of the MRTA which mandates the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) to regulate the residency training and also routinely bring out online data bases stating when a resident should be withdrawn from the programme.

“A similar situation happened in Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, where 33 resident doctors were wrongfully sacked two weeks ago. After deliberations with the state governor, the doctors were recalled this week.

“In view of this, we ask that the management should look into this issue again critically and promptly recall the affected resident doctors as provided in the Medical Residency Training Act by withdrawing the already issued letters and re-issuing appropriate ones to the affected doctors.”

However, Banwat could not be reached for comment as he couldn’t answer the calls placed on his phone twice Wednesday afternoon.