According to Breakingtimes;
Doctors in
Imo State have declared a three-day closure of all public and private hospitals
in the state to protest their ill-treatment by the police and the Rochas
Okorocha administration.
Last week,
the doctors and the police clashed in Owerri, the state capital, during a
protest against the management of public hospitals and poor treatment of health
workers by the state government. During the incident, some doctors were
reported shot by the police.
The
directive to shut down all the hospitals in Imo was given on Tuesday by the
state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).
The association said that the closure of
the hospitals was to express their grievances against the action of the police
and the concessioning of public hospitals by Okorocha.
In a press statement issued by NMA Chairman, Dr Hyacinth Emele and Secretary, Kyrian Duruewuru, the association condemned the action of the police, insisting that the police acted the script of some government officials by shooting its members on a peaceful protest.
Emele said
that contrary to the police claim that NMA never obtained permission for the
protest, it was monitored by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Bisong and
Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of New Owerri, Eric Uchegbu, who came with six
vans loaded with armed policemen, escorting the protesters.
He noted that the police vans which have been escorting them, at the Ware House roundabout, turned against the doctors, diverting them to end their protest at the Freedom Square and not the Government House as contained in their permit.
At that
point, Emele said the police, who were hitherto friendly, threw teargas at them
and shot some of his members with live bullets.
The NMA
said it was shocked by the utterances of the Commissioner for Health, Ngozi
Njoku, who it said was rejected by the association because she was not a member
of the profession.
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