Tuesday, medical professionals in Kogi State protested the kidnapping of one of their colleagues, Dr. Austin Uwumagbe, by taking to the streets of Lokoja, the state capital.
Uwumagbe, the director of Victory Hospital-Annex in Ogaminana in Kogi State’s Adavi Local Government Area, was kidnapped by gunmen last week who were thought to be kidnappers.
Upon visiting Kogi State Specialist Hospital Lokoja, Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, and several other facilities in the state capital, our correspondent saw that medical professionals were not there to provide patient care.
The Nigeria Medical Association’s Kogi State Chairman, Dr. Olusola Baoku, told our correspondent that criminal groups have long targeted medical professionals in the nation in response to their protest.
He bemoaned the fact that more than 48 medical professionals had been abducted nationwide in the previous two years.
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Baoku lamented the idea that doctors were extremely wealthy and ought to be taken hostage and held for ransom.
Since no one knows who will be abducted next, several of our members are frightened and restless. Going to work is no longer safe for people.
You will discover that a doctor’s pay will never go from peanuts to nothing because they use it to pay off various debts. We are really poor, thus they should stop robbing doctors of their lives for ransom. “Our accounts are empty,” regretted Baoku.
However, the NMA Chairman clarified that the kidnappers had contacted the family members and demanded a ransom.
