Governor Amaechi’s Wife Begs Doctors To Call Off Strike In Rivers

Wife of the Rivers State Governor, Mrs. Judith Amaechi, has appealed to striking medical doctors in Rivers State to call off strike and return to work in the interest of women and children.

Governor Amaechi’s wife in a statement signed by her Media Assistant, Dike Bekwele, said the continued absence of doctors at the government hospital is already taking its toll on the health of Rivers people, especially pregnant women and children.

“I want to make a passionate appeal to our Medical Doctors to please sheath its ongoing industrial action and please return to work in the interest of our people,” she said.

The governor’s wife said Rivers women are going through untold hardships, a fallout of which the recent protest of pregnant women and various unpleasant reports on the effect of the strike on the people.

According to her, “it is unheard of that our pregnant wives, mothers and sisters who should be on antenatal care are denied access to medical attention due to the on-going doctors’ strike, I beg you to return to work.”

The Rivers first lady added that the state government places high premium on the healthcare of the people, adding that the health facility in the state is comparable with modern hospital system in the world.

She added that the doctors’ agitation and demand that gave rise to the strike should also wear a human face.

She appealed to wives and husbands of medical practitioners as well as the general public to prevail on the doctors to return to work and advised them to devise proper channel for expressing their grievances without affecting the health of the people especially women and children.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sampson Parker, has claimed that “the state government is having some financial challenges as the monthly revenue that was  about N20 billion has dropped to about N10 billion.

“The doctors asked for 100 percent increase under the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, CONMESS, but we are only able to offer them 70 percent. They are still insisting on the 100 percent. That is where we are now.”

The doctors’ strike seems to have thrown a spanner in the healthcare policy of the state government.

The state government has invested huge funds in building healthcare centres and hospitals in all the local government council areas as one of its signature projects.

By Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

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