Madar (Nouakchott) - The head of the surgical emergencies department at the National Hospital Centre in Nouakchott has resigned, citing a "continuous deterioration in working conditions and in the current organisation of the department", news site Al-Akhbar reported.
In his letter to the centre's director-general, he said he took the decision after "deep reflection" and had become convinced it was "unavoidable".
The hospital's communication adviser said the resignation, announced on October 29, followed a dispute over a patient needing complex surgery that the director-general was due to perform but postponed because of university commitments; the department head objected to admitting the case to the emergency surgical unit, where it was not scheduled, before the director asked him to admit the patient.
The adviser said resigning is a professional right and that the emergency surgical unit is a public facility that should be open to all surgeons, adding that some had previously been unable to operate there.
He said the director-general has reorganised the unit, assigning another surgeon to supervise it and opening it to all surgeons for emergency operations according to their specialities and medical rules.
