The Islamic Medical Association of Nigeria (IMAN) has declared its opposition to strikes in the country’s health sector, warning that such actions cost thousands of lives.
IMAN’s National President, Prof. Ibrahim Oreagba, made this known during the association’s National Executive Council meeting in Auchi, Edo State, on Saturday. He stressed that the association’s policy forbids Muslim health workers from abandoning patients during strikes. “Whenever there is a strike, it is the patients, Muslims or non-Muslims, who suffer. Thousands of lives are lost. Who will bring back these lives after the strike ends? As medical professionals, we must save lives, not let them be wasted,” Oreagba said. He urged both Muslim and non-Muslim health workers to remain professional and prioritise the welfare of patients, even when agitating for better conditions. Dr. Muhammad Haruna, a consultant family physician at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, also spoke at the event. Delivering a lecture on “Sickness as a Trial and Islamic Solution,” Haruna said illness was often a divine test meant to cleanse sins and purify believers
