Resident doctors vow to continue strike as patients kick

Share:

The son of a patient at the Accident and Emergency Unit in UBTH, Mr Charles Benjamin, lamented the hardship on his father occasioned by the strike.

Benjamin, who stated that his father was billed to undergo two surgical operations on Friday, said the senior citizen was in “severe pain.”

A member of staff of the hospital, who preferred anonymity, said many patients had been discharged since Wednesday before the strike commenced, adding that only patients with serious conditions were being attended to by consultants in the hospital.

Many relatives of patients at the hospital were seen in groups lamenting the situation brought by the strike.

The father of a patient in the paediatrics unit of FMC Jalingo, Mr Musa Garba, told one of our correspondents that he had to move his daughter out of the hospital because only nurses were attending to patients.

Another patient, Mrs Eunice Ande, said she was considering leaving the hospital because mostly nurses were attending to her.

Mrs Linda Tanko of Donga Local Government Area of Taraba told Saturday PUNCH that she had to move her mother out of the State Specialist Hospital, Jalingo to a private hospital in the town because she could not get the attention of doctors.

Miss Charity Pius also told one of our correspondents that her father had not been attended to at FMC Jalingo for several hours, adding that she was contemplating moving him to a private hospital.

Checks at the Barau Dikko Specialists Hospital and Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital, Kaduna, showed that doctors were attending to patients. At the National Ear Care Centre, Kaduna, some doctors were carrying out skeletal services.

Checks by Saturday Punch showed that patients were being attended to in the clinics and emergency areas at the UCH, Oyo, though those who came for routine check-ups and some new cases were not welcomed.

The emergency units in the hospital were still active as new patients were being admitted just as old patients were also being fully attended to.

Blame Ngige for deaths, doctors tell Nigerians

The resident doctors, however, asked Nigerians to hold the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, responsible for the loss of lives that might be recorded while the strike persists.

NARD made its position known in a series of tweets via its verified handle @nard_nigeria, on Friday.

“The minister @LabourMinNG should be held responsible for the lives that will be lost from the industrial dispute,” one of the tweets read.

The resident doctors noted that Ngige, a medical doctor, quit medicine for politics, and asked why the minister did not go into clinical medicine and remain impoverished.

The striking resident doctors also faulted the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for travelling to London for a routine medical check-up.

Other tweets read, “Mr Labour Minister @LabourMinNG, it’s a shame the President @MBuhari is going to England for a second opinion on routine medical check-up and the Nigerian masses are dying.

“Mr Labour Minister @LabourMinNG, what’s the clinical correlation between @Fmohnigeria and the ministry of environment as you said sanitation is part of the health budget?

“For clarity, no professor of medicine earns his wardrobe allowance @LabourMinNG. @nard_nigeria has listened carefully to the labour minister @LabourMinNG… we aren’t perturbed.

“We maintain our stand that nothing has been done. Health workers’ lives matter. We are tired of paperwork; implement your papers @LabourMinNG.”

Recall that Ngige had told The PUNCH on Thursday that the resident doctors acted in bad faith by proceeding on strike after an agreement the Federal Government signed with the association’s leadership earlier in the day.

The minister had threatened that if by the weekend the resident doctors remained adamant, their fate would be decided based on extant labour laws.

Nigige had said the government was surprised that the resident doctors could still proceed on their strike after agreements were reached on all their demands. Punch

Previous Article

Why we shut down Shoprite stores nationwide – Workers

Next Article

How gunmen struck at our meeting, by Soludo

You may also like

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.