Doctors’ Strike Cripples Hospitals Nationwide

As members of the Nigerian Medical Association commence another round of strike, patients across the nation have no compliments but condemnation for what they describe as doctors’ insensitivity. Folashade Adebayo, Femi Makinde, (Oshogbo); Success Nwogu (Ilorin); Emmanuel Obe (Asaba); Etim Ekpimah (Uyo); Oluwole Josiah (Akure); Olaleye Aluko and Emeka Obi (Lagos) report.
Ronke Adegborioye held her stomach in agony inside the premises of the Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital, Lagos, Tuesday, as the persistent pains the pregnant woman had been experiencing for some time now warranted an early visit to the hospital.
But there was no doctor in sight as at 10:30am! As her husband waited at the car park, Adegborioye told one of our correspondents that her only option was a private hospital.
“Actually, I knew the strike would begin today, but I thought I would be lucky. There is no doctor to attend to patients. My case is not life-threatening and I have decided to go to a private hospital,’’ she said.
Adegborioye was not alone. Services at the tertiary hospitals in Lagos State and across the country yesterday were skeletal, though there was considerable patient traffic. While nurses got busy checking the vital signs of the patients, the general experience was that doctors stayed away.
At the General Hospitals in Somolu, Orile Agege and Alimosho, the ubiquitous crowd was present with few or no doctors to attend to them.
The conditions were not different at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. While other nurses and other support staff were seen at duty posts, it was different for doctors who had already downed tools. Except for the absence of doctors, though, the pace of activities at LASUTH did not falter.
Attempts to speak with the Chief Medical Director, Prof. David Oke were not successful, as he was said to be attending a programme. However, patients decried the latest development and the implications on their individual finances.
Patients bear the brunt
An insurance broker, Mrs. Dunsin Akinpelu, expressed disappointment at the latest development in the health sector and lamented the unnecessary fatalities that would be recorded.
“Each time doctors go on strike, it is the patients who suffer. Many people will be forced to seek treatment either at private hospitals or herbal practitioners. Many people will die as a result. I find it baffling that patients are not reckoned with in Nigeria. Why must the crisis get to this level?” she asked.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fani-Kayode speaks on meeting Fayose at PDP National Convention

Image
Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has spoken about meeting Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, at Saturday’s PDP National Convention. Fani-Kayode and Fayose joined over 3,000 delegates at the Eagles Square in Abuja for the event. The non-elective convention was the first of such gathering, since the Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate the National Caretaker Committee (NCC) led by Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi. Fani-Kayode posted an image of the two men at the event on Twitter, and wrote: “Greek meets Greek, lion meets lion, warrior meets warrior…..God bless PDP!!!” Fayose unveiled his presidential campaign at the convention. The Governor, who is the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governors’ Forum stormed the venue of the party’s non-election National convention in an attire bearing his 2019 campaign ambition. He arrived the Eagles Square wearing his 2019 presidential campaign shirt and cap. He also had his entourage carrying his 2019 presidential
Read more

Buhari meets BBOG campaigners, says military doing its best

Image
ABUJA , (Reuters) – Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday held his first meeting with campaigners calling for the release of more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram militants in the northeastern town of Chibok last year. The militant Islamist group, whose six-year insurgency has seen thousands killed in Africa’s most populous nation and top oil producer, caused an international outcry when it took the girls from secondary school dormitories in April 2014. Buhari praised members of the Bring Back Our Girls group for their efforts to prevent the missing children being forgotten. “Nobody in Nigeria or outside could have missed your consistency and persistence,” said Buhari during the meeting at his presidential villa in the capital, Abuja. “I think you will agree that the present government takes the issue very seriously,” he said, adding that the military was working with neighbouring countries to ensure a regional task force could fight the insurgency. Earlier
Read more

Don’t scrap Office of First Lady, says Prophetess

Image
A women rights crusader, Prophetess Nonny Robertson, on Tuesday criticised calls by some people for the scrapping of the Office of the First Lady by President Muhammadu Buhari. Robertson said in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday that the decision of the critics was not in the best interest of women. “It is wrong to scrap the Office of the First Lady because it is mere semantics as the wife of the president remains what she is whether designated a First Lady or not. “Calling for the scrapping of the office would adversely affect the fortunes of women and their expected contributions to nation building,” the statement said. The statement noted that the non-recognition of the First Lady’s office in Nigeria’s political scheme of things was already taking its toll on the family. “We have had series of first ladies; your perception about them is only real to you but not to another person. “If you perceive that one or two first ladies misbehaved, you will also perceive that some did well.
Read more