A Nigerian doctors union is demanding that the government provide members with more personal protective equipment and hazard pay in treating patients infected with COVID-19, or they will escalate a strike that began Monday, its leader said.
Dr. Aliyu Sokomba, president of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, said union members now caring for patients in COVID-19 treatment facilities will suspend those duties unless federal and state governments comply with their demands within two weeks.
Nigeria’s health ministry reported 16,658 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 424 deaths as of Monday, with 573 new confirmed cases that day alone.
Sokomba told VOA that the union also sought life insurance “for all health care workers, so that should anybody fall dead as a result of infection through this COVID-19, the family and next of kin will have something to fall back on.”
The union has been criticized for calling a strike during the pandemic, especially while the federal government and many states are confronting COVID-19-related economic challenges, as well as insecurity because of armed extremist groups.
