Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State, has called on protesting members of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, to return to work.
NMA members are on strike in the state over the kidnap of Prof. Ekanem Ephraim, a Neurology expert.
Recall that Prof. Ephraim, a lead consultant of neurology at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, UCTH, was abducted from her residence in Calabar by gunmen posing as relations to a patient in dire need of medical attention
NMA members were on a peaceful protest for the immediate and unconditional release of their member, Prof. Ephraim, who was kidnapped in Calabar.
Governor Otu, who addressed them, said: “I want to plead that while we still continue to work for the release of your colleague, please let doctors do the best that they can to save lives, because your main call is to save lives.
“I want you to believe us, that just like you, we are also very pained and we are pained that two wrongs will never make a right.
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“A lot of things are happening in our hospitals and my administration is poised to ensure the enabling environment is created for you to carryout your statutory duties at all times.
“Nobody is happy that she was taken even for a day apart from the criminal elements. But we will continue to do everything possible to ensure her safe return to the confines of her family and the association,” the governor assured.
The governor said his administration was working closely with the security agencies to drastically curb, if not totally, eradicate kidnapping in the state.
The governor commended the contributions and sacrifices of doctors in the state, adding that his administration would not be defeated by the challenges of those involved in nefarious activities.
“Though it is a bad situation but at the darkest end of the tunnel, there is always a light.
“It is true that we have promised the season of sweetness, we will continue to live by the ethos and I know that Rome was not built in a day, the journey of a thousand miles begin one day, not too long we will clear our society of all miscreants,” Otu said.
