Resident doctors’ strike paralyses hospitals

Resident doctors’ strike have paralysed
hospitals nationwide. The doctors declared the
strike yesterday, following non-payment of
their wages, according to the President of the
National Association of Resident Doctors of
Nigeria (NARD) at the University College
Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Dr. Babatunde
Babasanya.
He also said the Federal Government’s
implementation of the Integrated Payroll and
Personnel Information System (IPPIS) had not
been effective in spite of the fact that many
doctors were short paid.
Babasanya said: “Some House Officers in Lagos
have not been paid for four months till
recently when they paid them only two
months.
“ We have been paid as cooks; in a month
some of us received N1,000, some N20, 000
and some may not even receive at all.
“Government has not been sincere toward
alleviating the suffering of everybody.
“ Our doctors don’t even take their cars to
work again because they can’t fuel it. How do
they expect us to cope when we come to work
by 7.a.m. and leave by 10 p.m ?”
The NARD boss also said that the residency
training programme had come under severe
challenges, especially in terms of under
funding.
“We had different meetings with the Federal
Government and the resolutions had not been
adhered to. Right now, we want them to sort
these out.
“The moment the agreement is made and the
government meets our request, we will start
work immediately,” he said.
A NAN correspondent, who visited the tertiary
health institution on Wednesday, reports that
consultants and other health workers were
attending to patients.
The Chief Information Officer of UCH, Mr
Ayodeji Bobade, however, declined comments
on the development.
In Abeokuta, striking resident doctors at the
Federal Medical Centre appealed to the Federal
Government to embrace dialogue in order to
end the strike.
The NARD president at the centre, Dr Ibrahim
Adewale, spoke to reporters
Adewale, who noted that patients were always
at the receiving end whenever doctors
embarked on strike, urged the two parties to
resolve the dispute.
“After talks with the national body and the
government seemed to have broken down and
the ultimatum given government expired, we
were instructed to withdraw services.
“We pray that everything will be resolved
within the shortest possible time because of
the patients,” Adewale said.
NAN reports that patients in dire need of
medical attention were disappointed as the
resident doctors were not at their duty posts.
NAN correspondent, however, sighted a few
consultants and other health workers on duty
at the medical centre.
When NAN visited the Doctors’ Lounge at the
hospital, some of the resident doctors were
seen discussing in groups.
The Chief Medical Director of the centre, Dr
Dapo Sotiloye, declined comments, saying “ it
is between the doctors and the Federal
Government.’’
Some of the patients, who spoke with NAN in
separate interviews, appealed to the two
parties to consider the plight of ordinary
Nigerians.
One of the patients, Alhaji Fatai Salisu,
lamented the attitude of some nurses at the
centre and appealed to the doctors to return
to work.
Mr Dada Abiodun, whose wife was on
admission prior to the strike, said he might
relocate her to another hospital.
Also reacting to the strike, Prof. Mikail Buhari,
the Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association
(NMA), Kwara Chapter, said the doctors were
committed to full implementation of the strike
option.
He said that the strike followed the expiration
of a 21-day ultimatum earlier declared by
NARD.
Buhari said members were directed to embark
on the strike due to “ persistent unwillingness
of the Federal Government to articulate a
comprehensive guideline for residency
training.’’
He said the development had led to inadequate
funding of residency training and failure of the
recently re-introduced overseas clinical
attachment for resident doctors.
Buhari said this had caused persistent
disharmony in manpower training centres
across the country due to the disengagement
of members.
He said the doctors were also dissatisfied with
the operation of the IPPIS following
inexplicable deductions in salaries.
A NAN correspondent, who visited UITH on
Wednesday, sighted only consultants and other
health workers attending to patients.
Alhaji Oba-Hassan Kadiri, the spokesman of the
University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH),
said only special medical cases were being
attended to.
In Owo, Ondo State, striking resident doctors
insisted that they would not return to work
until their demands were met.
NARD members at the Federal Medical Centre
(FMC), Owo, said the association was
committed to the indefinite nation-wide strike.
Dr Lemadoro Abiodun, the branch president,
told NAN that “there is no going back on this
struggle until our demands are met.’’
“I may not be able to speak on the general
situation of the FMC in relation to the strike
because I am a civil servant, but I can tell you
authoritatively that no member of NARD works
now.
“We are fully ready to pursue our demands to
a logical conclusion. Therefore, we will not
succumb to undue pressure from any quarter,
“ he said.
But Mr Olanrewaju Yusuf, the spokesman of
the centre, said the doctors joined the strike
because it was called by the national body of
NARD.
He said only resident doctors were on strike
while consultants and other categories of
health workers were at work.
“ We have no issues with the resident doctors
going on strike to press home their demands
from the Federal Government.
“ However, the strike has not had serious
effect on the operations of the hospital as
other categories of health workers are on
duty,’’ he said.
Resident Doctors’ strike has crippled activities
at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching
Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria as patients were seeing
vacating the hospital.
Also affected was the National Eye Centre,
Kaduna, where the doctors have also joined
the strike.
Check by Correspondents of the News Agency
of Nigeria (NAN) revealed that many patients
and their relations were busy leaving the
hospitals.
A relation to one of the patients on admission
at ABUTH, Malam Gambo Yakasai told NAN that
they have decided to seek for alternative
medication elsewhere.
“We were shocked when the information about
the commencement of the strike reached us,
we therefore have to think of how to transfer
our patients elsewhere, since we cannot allow
them to be knocked down by sickness,” he
said.
Mrs Maryam Ibrahim, said she was in the
hospital on appointment, adding, “this strike is
neither good for the patients nor for the
nation”.
Chief Medical Director, ABUTH, Prof. Khalid
Lawal, said consultants had been deployed to
provide skeletal services at the hospital.
“Our consultants are providing skeletal services
in the hospital, our Accident and Emergency
unit is also providing its usual essential
services. Even during the previous strike our
consultants had provided skeletal services,” he
said.
On patients vacating the hospital, Lawal
assured that most of them had “less severe
illnesses” and were discharged by the doctors.
At the National Eye Centre, patients were also
seeing waiting at the Out-Patient Department
with no doctors to attend to them.
Dr Yohanna Joseph, the Chairman of the
Resident Doctors Association of the centre said
they had joined the indefinite strike.
According to him, the strike will continue until
all issues of training, work conditions and
salary are fully addressed.
Spokesman Lawal Bala said the management
had deployed consultants to fill in the gap
caused by the strike, assuring that services at
the hospital would not be grounded.
Chairman, Kaduna State Diabetic Association,
Alhaji Sani Hassan, described the persistent
strike in the health sector as “pathetic”, and
called for urgent negotiations to end the
current strike.
“I want to plead with both parties to sheath
their sword for the betterment of the health
sector and the nation at large.
Doctors serving in Bauchi State government-
owned hospitals attended to patients on the
first day of the strike action embarked on by
National Association of Resident Doctors.
A Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) who visited the different arms of the
Bauchi State specialists’ Hospital , reports that
that normal services were being rendered.
At the Bauchi Urban Maternity Clinic and the
hospital located along Bakin Kura road in
Bauchi metropolis, most of the patients were
not even aware that Doctors had commenced
strike.
“I have just been attended to by a doctor. As
you can see, there are others patients here. I
am just hearing from you that strike
commenced today,” said one of the patients,
Mohammed Ali, while fielding questions from
NAN.
However, doctors at the Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH),
joined the strike.
NAN Correspondent who visited the hospital
reports that only nurses and other health
workers were on duty.
Malam Auwal Bala, a Bauchi resident, told
NAN that he took his pregnant wife to the
hospital around 1am, but was told that
Doctors were on strike, and advised to move
her to a private clinic.
“My wife was in labour when we rushed her to
the hospital, but were told that there may be
no Doctor to attend to her. So we took her to
a private hospital,” he said.
Officials of the NARD ATBUTH branch, were
not available for comments when NAN visited.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital was
said to be out of town and none of his
subordinates was willing to comment.