Although medical doctors normally address health troubles, this time around, some doctors are the ones in trouble after Borno’s Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum showed up 2am at the State Specialist and Umaru Shehu hospitals, both in Maiduguri. The Governor found out that none of the medical doctors on duty, was available at Umaru Shehu even as one of the doctors who lives within the hospital’s staff quarters did not respond to several telephone calls placed on his numbers on the Governor’s instruction.
Governor Zulum had on arrival gone round all wards where he met on ground, 10 nurses out of the 135 working at the hospital while none of the 19 resident doctors including two of those said to be ‘on call’ was around. The Governor ordered the hospital’s medical director be called while he promised disciplinary action against absentee Doctors. He wondered what could have been the situation if any outside or admitted patients had emergency situation which required the urgency of medical doctors during the night.
Thirty minutes earlier (1:30am), Professor Zulum had paid similar surprise visit to the state specialist hospital also in Maiduguri. While going round the emergency, maternity, male and female surgical wards, paediatric and orthopedic wards, the Governor found in the hospital, all the four resident doctors on call alongside some nurses and pharmacists.