In Imo: Doctor Shot In The Head During Protest

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What was supposed to be a peaceful strike action by the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Imo state branch, ended on a sad note, after a police officer fired at the crowd, leaving a renowned consultant Family Physician, Dr. Bede Azudialor dead.

Azudialor, a staff of Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Owerri, was allegedly shot in the head by a yet-to-be identified police officer during a protest rally in Owerri by NMA against the anti-life policies of the state government.

According to report, the injured doctor was first rushed to the emergency unit of FMC, Owerri, from where he was moved to the intensive care unit and later ferried to an undisclosed hospital. State Chairman of the Nigerian Guild of Doctors, Dr. Darlington Akukwu, who briefed newsmen on the incident at the NMA secretariat, Owerri, later announced a three-day warning strike by doctors in the state to protest the alleged police brutality against their colleague.

He called on Inspector- General of Police, IGP Solomon Arase, to compel the police commissioner in Imo state, Taiwo Lakanu, to produce the culprit that perpetrated the wicked act, just as he pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari for thorough investigation of the matter.

When contacted, the state PPRO, DSP Andrew Enwerem, said the police only used tear gas to disperse the protesting doctors when they grew violent. “Police did not shoot anybody and nobody who is shot on the head will ever remain alive.

“Let them produce a doctor’s report to confirm it was a real case of shooting on the head. Anybody can pick any blood stained material from anywhere and claim he was shot,” Enwerem said. He also maintained that the police applied minimal force to disperse the protesting doctors.

“There is a government in the state and there should be no state of lawlessness in the state.
They were demonstrating on the road, moving beyond the boundary of Freedom Square,” he explained.

Governor Rochas Okorocha
Governor Rochas Okorocha

Meanwhile, the association has kicked against the appointment of non-medical personnel as commissioner for health in the state by Governor Rochas Okorocha, arguing that the action clearly shows that the government lacks clear sense of direction on health matters.

“This unacceptable action is comparable to putting a square peg in a round hole which is a harbinger of total collapse of healthcare delivery in Imo state.” In a statement jointly signed by Dr. Hyacinth Emele and Dr. Kyrian Duruewuru, the respective chairman and secretary, read to newsmen, the association regretted that despite repeated advice, the state government stubbornly went ahead to concession virtually all state public health institutions from primary to tertiary.

It warned that concessioning of public health institutions in the state would not only make the healthcare services unaffordable, unavailable and inaccessible, but also make Imo completely lose the assistance of donor agencies and partners such as WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank, global fund among others that sponsor immunisation, malaria, tuberculosis, family planning, and HIV/AIDS services in these health institutions.

It adding that the state would equally lose from the huge funds available from the national primary healthcare development agency as enshrined in the National Health Act 2015.

Also, chairman of Association of General Medical Practitioners, Imo State branch, Dr. Phillip Njemanze, accused the governor of partnering with alleged syndicates from Kosovo and Croatia to form an international human organ trafficking organisation.

 

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