Strike: NMA asks surgeons to resume work after Kano blasts

Kano State chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association, (NMA) has exempted medical doctors working in the surgery department of the Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital, Kano, from the ongoing strike following last Wednesday’s bomb blast in the state.

This is because majority of those admitted at the hospital in the wake of the attack suffered serious injuries.

Kano State Chairman of the Association, Dr Sharfuddeen Mashi told Sunday Sun that the decision was in line with the position of their national body which resolved that wherever a case of natural or man-made disaster occurred as in the case of a bomb blast, medical doctors in the affected area should suspend action over a specified period to save lives.

He added that similar gesture has been extended to medical doctors at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Kano, and some local government councils in the state as a result of the cholera outbreak in their areas.

“They are exempted from the industrial action so as to attend to patients until such a time when the outbreak has been brought under control”, he added.

Meanwhile, Kano State Government has announced the outbreak of cholera in a total of 11 local Government Councils in the state.

Acting Director, Public Health and Disease Control in the Kano State Ministry of Health, Alhaji Tijjani Useni, at a press conference confirmed the outbreak in the state, saying the disease had killed six persons while about 116 cases have been recorded across the state.

He said the affected Local Governments, located outside the metropolitan area, are Wudil, Gaya, Sumaila, Tudum Wada, Doguwa, among others.

The official said government has intensified efforts to control the outbreak, adding that they have purchased emergency drugs for the treatment and conducted a rapid assessment of the situation in the high-burden local government councils.