Patients lament as doctors’ strike enters day four

Pain and anguish were the lots of patients in hospitals across the nation as the five-day warning strike embarked upon by medical doctors entered the third day yesterday.

In Lagos, Port Harcourt, Jos, Kano and other cities, there were reports of patients being stranded because there were no doctors to attend to them.

UCH, Ibadan

All members of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and its affiliates, the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) Nigerian Medical Guild (NMG) and Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), had embarked on the warning strike to press home their demand for proper equipping of government-owned hospitals.

Patients at the Lagos University Teaching hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba; National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi; Federal Neuro-Psychiatric, Yaba and Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Metta all in Lagos said that doctors had abandoned their ward round and routine check as they lamented their inability to access treatment in the hospitals.

When The Nation visited, some patients were seen leaving the hospital to seek treatment in private hospitals.

Officials of the hospitals were seen telling out-patients and new patients to seek treatment elsewhere until the strike is over.

At LUTH, however, some patients were being attended to by health workers. One Miss Elizabeth was attended to by nurses at the hospital. She said she had a motor accident, which left her with broken arms.

A concerned individual whose relation was admitted at LUTH, said he was already making plans to transfer his brother to a private hospital.

He said: ‘’We were shocked when the information about the commencement of the strike reached us. ‘We therefore have to think of how to transfer our relation elsewhere for treatment so that he can get well soon.”

An out-patient, Mrs Alaba Iyanmu, lamented her inability to access care.

She said: ‘’I had an appointment with the doctor today, but since the doctors are on strike I have no option but to go back home. ‘This strike is not good for the patients or for the nation at large.”

Mr Jude Nwakpuda, an out-patient, described the situation as “pathetic” as he appealed to government to dialogue with the striking doctors.

‘’I want to plead with both parties to settle their differences for the betterment of the health sector and the nation at large,’’ he said.

Our correspondent who visited the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital and Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital, all in Kano yesterday, reports that the three hospitals operated skeletal services for emergency cases only.

Many of the patients were advised to seek alternative treatments in private clinics.

At AKTH, some stranded patients who spoke with our correspondent appealed to the doctors to resolve their grievances with the government rather than continue with the strike.

But the President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Jubril Abubakar, told our correspondent that in the case of Kano where there was cholera outbreak, patients with emergency cases were being attended to while some hospitals in the state capital remain shut.

He said: “We have entered the middle of the warning strike, and if the jokers (Federal Government) continue to play their joking tricks, by January 6, the doctors will not have any alternative but to go on an indefinite strike.

“We started the warning strike on Wednesday and we hope to end it on Monday, when all doctors will resume work.”

In Jos, Plateau State, many patients were at government hospitals. Two major government hospitals in Jos, namely the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and the Plateau State Specialists Hospital only attended to emergency cases.

Many patients on admission were left unattended to; ditto for outpatients who came for screening or routine check. Women attending antenatal had to seek for services at private clinics in the city.

The Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association in Plateau State, Dr. Chris Yilgwan, said: “The action was taken to effect the five-day warning strike. It will soon be over and after that we can resume negotiation with government on our demands.

“Members of the branch include doctors in both government and private hospitals, but we have only withdrawn services in government hospitals and allowed the private ones to operate, because if we withdraw services totally, innocent people will die and that is not the aim of the strike.

“In spite of the strike, my members still attend to accident cases and women in labour.”

He urged the government to “do the needful” to avoid a full blown strike. He also called on Nigerians to impress it on the government to do the necessary thing to avoid the main strike.

In Cross River State, it was tales of woes for patients in public hospitals. Many patients with various cases of ill-health were abandoned by doctors to comply with the five-day warning strike ordered by the NMA.

A visit to the University of Calabar teaching Hospital and the General Hospital in Calabar revealed the absence of doctors. Only nurses and other medical workers were seen attending to patients in the hospitals.

An accident victim at UCTH, who gave his name as Victor, said: “The patients have been lamenting since Wednesday that doctors stopped working. It is only the nurses that have been attending to us. Even if they (doctors) come in, they would not attend to you. They would just greet you and go away.

“New patients have not been admitted since then. Some accident victims brought in on Wednesday were returned. The patients, including me, are lamenting. The nurses are only working on prescriptions the doctors left behind.

“Since then, my doctor has not attended to me and I have some complaints which I cannot lay out to the nurses but doctors who know what to do. There were some tests I did which they were to come and inspect, but since then I have not since any of them. It is not a pleasant experience for us.”

The warning strike also crippled activities at public hospitals in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The premises of the only Federal government facility in Rivers State, the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), was deserted yesterday by both patients and doctors.

Contacted on the phone, the Chairman Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA), Dr. Prince Dan-Jumbo, said the strike action recorded full compliance at the UPTH. He said all the patients on admission before the strike commenced were discharged to seek help elsewhere.

It was reported that five patients died on the first day of the strike, but Dan-Jumbo did not confirm the report.

He said: “The five-days warning strike is still ongoing. That was why you did not see anybody in the hospital. All the patients on admission were discharged.”