Nigeria -  Consultant gynaecologist, Dr. Enoch Okpara of the Federal Medical Centre, FMC Gusau have been killed and burnt with tyres in his residence at Mareri in the outskirt of Gusau, the Zamfara State capital by unknown persons. The incident was said to have occurred last Friday night at his residence in Mareri community. The secretary of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA Gusau branch described the incident as unfortunate and a huge blow to the medical profession in the state and the country in general. He said, last Saturday, Dr. Enoch Okpara was not present in a church programme which he regularly attends, thereafter the church officials called his lines and were not going through. They put a call to his colleagues at the Federal Medical Centre, FMC Gusau. His colleagues also said they did not see him and a call was then made to the police who immediately mobilized some officers and men of the force to the Doctor’s residence, where they found his dead body with cuts ait.li...

Nigeria -  The Speaker of the House of Representatives Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila has expressed surprise over the news that members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) are embarking on a nationwide strike today despite committed efforts to meet their demands. Gbajabiamila had last Tuesday personally held a meeting of about three hours with the leadership of the resident doctors and the executive arm led by the two ministers manning the Federal Ministry of Health where their demands were addressed to the satisfaction of all. He had said at the meeting that the leadership of the House would not fold its arms while resident doctors embark on strike at this time of COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was held sequel to a strike notice issued by NARD, demanding that issues such as the outstanding payments of hazard allowance, arbitrary disengagement of 23 doctors at the University of Jos Teaching Hospital, non-provision of life insurance despite the death of some doctors from ...

  Nigeria - The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has met with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, over its planned industrial action. This is according to a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Speaker, Lanre Lasisi. The statement indicates that the speaker held a meeting with the association and officials of the Federal Ministry of Health at the National Assembly to resolve all pending issues. At the end of the three-hour meeting, Gbajabiamila said the leadership of the House would not fold its arms while resident doctors embark on strike at this time of COVID-19 pandemic. The union had issued an ultimatum to embark on strike next week Monday following what it said was government’s inability to fulfil certain obligations as agreed in a memorandum of understanding. Part of the issues in contention as narrated by the chairman of the House Committee on Healthcare Services, Tanko Sununu, were...

GENEVA The International Council of Nurses (ICN) said Wednesday that it believes at least 90,000 healthcare workers had been infected and more than 260 nurses had died in the novel coronavirus pandemic. Failure by governments to record infection rates and deaths of healthcare staff "is a scandal that puts staff at higher risk" and underestimates the true scale of the problem, the ICN said in a statement released in Geneva. "The lack of official data on infections and deaths among nurses and other healthcare workers is scandalous," said ICN chief executive officer Howard Catton. "Nurses and healthcare workers have been put at greater risk because of the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and poor preparedness for this pandemic." The ICN called on governments to immediately start keeping accurate records of infections and deaths among healthcare workers. Failure to do so increases the chances of more deaths and fails to honor those who have died, it...