The Federal Government on Wednesday said the 16, 500 resident doctors on its payroll have not been sacked.
The Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, made this known while fielding questions from State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting.
The clarification is rather late, coming a week after the announcement of the suspension of the doctors residency programme in all Federal Government hospitals.
Chukwu blamed misinterpretation for the wrong signal sent out, insisting that the programme has only been suspended to give room for total overhaul by a committee that would soon be put in place.
He, however, hinted that the suspension of the residency programme may last for months.
His words: “They were not sacked.
“It is a matter of interpretation.
“For example, if someone while still working actively dies or whether that person resigned or was dismissed or retired or terminated, all mean different things in the public service.
“But the end point is that the person is no longer working.
“I want us to put things in perspective.
“Government did not sack anybody.
“It is true that they themselves have not been working for almost two months, except those in private hospitals.
“Resident doctors in both federal and state hospitals have not been working for almost two months now and they have not participated in the control of this Ebola virus disease.
“They have not played any role.
“So, even if government had not taken any decision, they are not there, they are not working and I don’t know why suddenly the media starts taking interest in them.
“They are not part of this success story.
“But what happened is like in the aviation industry where when you buy a ticket and you fail to show up.
“They say no show and they even penalize you.
“So there is no show of the resident doctors and even government is still paying them.
“People who are unemployed, even some doctors, will be asking government a question: is it because we did not have an appointment letter?
“What is the difference?
“You are paying people who are not working.
“We too are not working, why you are not paying us?
“Sometimes we need to think deeply about what we do to ourselves.
“Government says why can’t we use this period to appraise properly the residency programme and come up with something that can help the country?
“Training of a doctor must be done properly.
“They have an allotted time to acquire skills.
“Anybody can pass the theoretical exams but has he acquired the skills?
“We need to be honest with ourselves.
“If you suspend any course, do you keep students redundant?
“You give them opportunity if they feel you are wasting their time they can apply for other courses.
“I believe we will quickly appraise this situation and hopefully government will resume residency programme because honestly we need to train doctors very well.”