Management of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH, has refuted claims that the health institution has sacked 25 doctors amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
JUTH in a statement by its Chief Medical Director, CMD, Professor Edmund Banwat, berated the affected doctors for discrediting the hospital management despite its good intentions. He said the hospital rather extended the tenure of the Resident Doctors who claimed to have been sacked.
Professor Banwat said the allegation by the Resident Doctors is rather unfortunate while noting that the institution has not “sacked” any Resident Doctor, rather the tenure of their training programme had expired since 2018 and was even extended by one year and further two months that would terminate on June 30, 2020.
He added, that the, Residency Training period is tenured and those Residents who have exhausted their tenure must exit to pave way for the admission of new Residents Doctors.
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It would be recalled that the President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, ARD, JUTH Branch, Dr. Stephen Lukden, had said 25 of his members received their letters of terminations without any cogent reason to explain the decision of management.
In a letter addressed to the JUTH CMD, the Association asked the hospital’s management to reverse the sack letters issued to its members describing the action as unjust and illegal. The letter jointly signed by ARD President, Dr. Stephen Lukden and the General Secretary, Dr Noel Nnaegbuna noted 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 the 16th July 2018 stipulates guidelines on the conduct of residency training programme in the country.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
