By Omar Bah
The Gambia Association of Resident Doctors yesterday gave a 48-hour ultimatum to the Health Minister Saffie Lowe-Cessay to resign from her post over remarks attributed to her in The Standard.
In that article written from a press conference at a recent regional health meeting, the minster said corruption is hindering the development of the health sector.
When the story broke last week, it generated a heated controversy prompting officials of the ministry to initially hint that the minister was misquoted.
But The Standard Editor-in-Chief Lamin Cham on Sunday accorded officials of the ministry an opportunity to listen to reporter Omar Bah’s recording of the encounter with the minister after which the officials left satisfied that the minster was indeed rightly quoted.
However, the 191-member strong doctors association president Dr Ebrima Bah, delivered a statement making three main demands failure of which they will consider a sit-down strike.
“We unreservedly condemn in the strongest possible terms these defamatory remarks and find them very disappointing without justification. We therefore, in this regard demand that: One, the Minister retracts the statement immediately; two apologizes to the entire medical fraternity and three immediately append her resignation within 48 hours or we shall respond with a sit-down strike.
In this spirit, we continue to pledge our firm allegiance to our beloved country, and we pray that the great God of nations keeps us ever true to The Gambia. Thank you,” Dr. Bah added amid chorus from the membership.
The Ministry is yet to make any public statement on the matter.
