NARD: Despair, Disappointment As Doctors’ Strike End Today

As the strike declared by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) in public health facilities nationwide entered the fifth and concluding day today, hundreds of booked patients battling ill health were left to their faith as the majority were turned back, unable to be treated by doctors. After several hours of waiting to see doctors for assessment and treatment, they were informed about the ongoing strike, told there weren’t enough doctors on ground to attend to the large number of patients that had converged in hospitals for treatment. The ordeal of patients was the same all over the country: from Kano to Bauchi, Rivers and Akwa Ibom, Plateau to Benue, Oyo to Lagos States, among others.

At the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja on Friday, despair and disappointment were written on the faces of many patients after it became clear that doctors were not available to attend to their needs. Even the nurses, who ultimately collected their hospital cards, couldn’t confirm that available doctors would see the booked patients on ground. The only information that was volunteered was that there was an ongoing strike by resident doctors; hence they were not on ground to attend to patients. The Outpatient Department (OPD), Pay Point Centre, Information Centre and the Billing Centre were deserted and devoid of the usual hustle and bustle associated with hospital environments.

Recall that doctors under the auspices of NARD began a five-day warning strike in public health facilities across the federation yesterday, Wednesday. Resident doctors constitute about 60 percent of medical and dental practitioners. In the interim, consultant physicians, medical officers and doctors on housemanship only were deployed to fill the gap, attending to patients with critical cases only. Some of the demands of the resident doctors include; immediate massive recruitment of clinical staff in the hospitals and abolishment of the bureaucratic limitations to the immediate replacement of doctors and nurses, who leave the system, among other demands.

An investigation at LASUTH showed that a mother, who brought her three- month old baby boy for a follow up assessment, was disappointed. She had been assured during the last hospital consultation that the case of her son, born with a disfigured leg, would be assessed and a decision about the surgical solution taken. Having come all the way from Badagry that Friday morning, the woman was very bitter about the development. As tears rolled down her cheeks she lamented: “Oh my God; what’s the hope of getting a solution for my son with these recurrent strikes?”

As one of the nurses returned the card after booking a fresh appointment, she sighed, saying, “I don’t know what to do again.” Another young girl, 22 years, similarly felt very sad when her almost three hours of waiting in LASUTH resulted in nothing; she wasn’t among critical cases that the only consultant on duty at the Orthopaedic Unit would see. While appealing to the nurses to include her among those to see the doctor that Friday, she said her hip bone which had been dislocated due to a past accident was making painful contact with another bone; “On the contact of the bones, the pain is excruciating,” she lamented.

As soon as the only Consultant Orthopaedic Physician on ground stepped out of the doctor’s consultation room, she ran after him. Fortunately, as the physician paused to give her audience, the patient made her case. “If something urgent is not done about my dislocated hip, I am afraid of my life,” she cried openly. In spite of the pressure, the consultant physician directed her to take a fresh appointment from the nurse. She left very disappointed.

Services disrupted at JUTH, Specialist Hospital Jos The situation was not different at the Jos

University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and the Plateau State Specialist Hospital, Jos. Patients were unable to assess medical services. The incessant attacks of residents by suspected Fulani herdsmen is making the number of patients, who need urgent medical attention, to head to the north as a result of gunshot wounds they sustained during the attacks. The strike action embarked upon by the Plateau State civil servants added to the pains of the patients accessing medical services, especially at the Plateau Specialists Hospital.

Death toll, mass withdrawal of patients hit FMC, Asaba

At the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba, Delta State, relatives, guardians and friends of patients have started with- drawing their sick family members from the hospital. This is even as the death toll has hit 80 as a result of the ongoing strike action. Doctors, who have their own hospitals are already referring patients to their respective hospitals. At the General Out-Patients Clinic and Emergency Unit / ward, skeletal activities were going on as Consultants were seen battling to rescue the situation. A farmer, who simply identified himself as Ogbuefi Chijioke, lamented that his wife was between life and death at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

He said: “My wife is here but due to the strike, no doc- tor will attend to us. We are planning to leave the hospital for a private clinic if she must live. The consultants said he cannot work alone.” A source who spoke with the Newspaper on condition of anonymity due to the nature of the matter, said over 15 persons died out of shock on the day the strike was declared, lamented that it would have risen to over 60 on the second day. Some wards at the facility were empty as few patients were looking frustrated over the development their hospital beds. The Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Anita Elumelu, debunked the death toll rumour, maintaining that activities were going on in spite of the strike action.

FMC Yenagoa deserted

The Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, which used to be a beehive of activities, was deserted when our Correspondent visited the facility, yesterday. Stating the reasons for the current strike action, President, National Association of Resident Doctors, FMC, Yenagoa, Dr. Romeo Mobooh said: “We’ve been following the trend and we noticed that the government has been showing a lot of insincerity as regards the plight of resident doctors in Nigeria. “Over the years, we have written a series of letters trying to make some efforts to ensure that our demands are actualized.

“One of the issues that we discussed with the government was the issue of infrastructural decay in our hospitals that has led to a lot of brain drain because some of our colleagues that have travelled out of the country can testify that their working environment is better than ours. “We always argue that the budgetary allocation for health should be increased. In 2011, the Ministry of Health and Stakeholders came together in Abuja and agreed that the budgetary allocation should increase to 15% but what we have here is 4%. “Another problem we have is the issue of manpower because of the brain drain.

The people that are left behind are few compared to before, and so one person can work for like five people. I can’t be doing 5 people’s work. But because the government has placed an embargo on employment, NARD as it were, has been advocating that this embargo be removed, that bureaucratic bottleneck should be removed, and that is one of the issues.” Also speaking, the Public Relations Officer of FMC Yenagoa, Bernard Akpebi, said “FMC is a major hospital in town here and any time any of these group is on industrial action, it is a sad one. So, currently, some patients got discharged but management has been able to call the consultants and corps member doctors as well as house officers to attend to very pitiful patients that can’t get discharged.

So, that is how we have been managing and we hope that the strike can get over so that we come to work fully. “The patients are not happy about the whole situation. Some patients got discharged from the not so critical ones and we are managing the critical patients.” A patient who couldn’t give his name because of pains said: “I just came today and I have been here since morning till now (around 4pm) but I have not seen any doctors. Nurses just put the drip on me.” Another patient said that he was waiting for them to discharge him since no doctor was coming again.

Surgical operations reduced, consultants, others over- worked at UITH

At the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), the strike no doubt is already taking its toll on normal medical activities. A visit to the hospital on Friday by our correspondent revealed that only consultants, nurses and other caregivers were attending to the patients in the absence of the striking resident doctors. They were, however, overwhelmed by the number of patients they needed to attend to. It was further discovered that the number of surgical operations that needed to be carried out in the theatre unit of the hospital since the strike action began has drastically reduced, with consultants coming to the rescue in critical cases. Also, fresh admission of patients has been put on hold, though the Hospital Management claimed that new patients were still being admitted, while those already on admission before the warning strike were being attended to.

According to the Deputy Director, Corporate Affairs Unit of UITH, Mrs Olabisi Ajiboye, consultants, nurses and other caregivers were at- tending to both the old and new patients. She said: “The consultants, nurses and other caregivers are on ground attending to patients. Though the workload is heavy, we are coping. We are not turning patients back.” A relation of a patient, who spoke with our correspondent, Hajia Bilewu, said the workload on the consultants and other medical personnel is too much and pleaded for an end to the warning strike, while also calling on the Federal Government to passionately look into the demands of the doctors with a view to ensuring that no strike comes up again after this warning strike.