Doctors were only placed on suspension not Sacked — Health Minister -

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Health minister has made it clear that resident doctors are not sacked but what the government did was the suspension of the residency programme in federal hospitals. Speaking with house correspondent, Professor Onyebuchi said  “the situation has been compounded by the recent importation of the Ebola Virus Disease into Nigeria on July 20, 2014....


Following the presidential declaration of a National Public Health Emergency on Ebola Disease, which has united the entire country in the efforts to contain the disease, it is quite regrettable that the people who should take leadership role in the fight against the Ebola disease are now the most unsupportive,” the statement said.
 
Explaining the decision, Professor Chukwu told State House Correspondents that it was rather the change in vocabulary from suspension to sack, that might have sent out the wrong signals.
He said that the allotted time within which the resident doctors were supposed to be acquiring the needed skills was being wasted, since government’s decision to reappraise the programme.
Chukwu, however, said that the suspension of the residency programme may last for months, until the committee about to be set up by him, submits its report for the way forward.