The controversies and unease between the Association of Resident Doctors (ARDs) of Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and its management came up again when the former staged a protest at the premises of the institution demanding the immediate removal of the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Edmund Banwat, as his four-year tenure has elapsed.

The association claimed that the tenure of the CMD came to an end on December 31, 2017, adding that until he brings a letter of renewal of appointment from the Federal Ministry of Health, he will be disregarded and whatever he does is null and void.

But the management of JUTH through its Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), Jonathan Karshima, who said he was there to hold brief for the CMD, described ARD’s claims as spurious.

Addressing journalists after marching from the institution’s Freedom Square to the Administrative Block, ARD president, Paul Agbo, said they were embarking on a peaceful demonstration to register their discomfort and dismay over the way the management and CMD are handling the unfortunate situation.

According to Agbo, despite the protest, patients in the hospital would not suffer, as they would return to duty to attend to them.

He said they were protesting against the CMD’s illegal acts, illegal sacking of doctors, injustice in the system and above all his tenure as CMD was over and he should go.

Agbo told reporters that in spite of the last protest they embarked upon, JUTH management went ahead to sack the resident doctors, an action he dubbed as wicked, because the sacked doctors were going to swell the labour market.

He explained that when the JUTH management was contacted initially why they were sacking doctors indiscriminately, management told them that they were doing that because other sister institutions were doing similar exercises which turned out to be false.