Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Striking Doctors in Nigeria Demand COVID-19 PPE, Hazard Pay

Peter Clottey

   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.

   An undisclosed number of the union's 5,000 members, who represent at
   least a third of Nigeria's physicians, have walked off their jobs at
   government-run hospitals.

   "We cannot continue to let ourselves continue to get infected and
   continue to die in the absence of necessary personal protective
   equipment," Sokomba told VOA when reached by phone Monday in Abuja, the
   capital. In a separate interview, he described the supply of masks,
   gloves and other PPE as "grossly inadequate."

   At least 10 doctors have died of COVID-19, the highly contagious
   disease caused by the coronavirus. Sokomba has expressed concern that
   an estimated 200 doctors have tested positive for the disease.

   Nigeria's [1]health ministry reported 16,658 confirmed COVID-19 cases
   and 424 deaths as of Monday,with 573 new confirmed cases that day
   alone.

References

   1. file://localhost/tmp/lynxXXXXxZapqa/covid19.ncdc.gov.ng

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