Posted on: Wed 08-05-2024

Residents Doctors at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, on Thursday, protested over the shortage of manpower and the alleged obnoxious policies introduced by the management of the hospital.

The protesting doctors carried placards with various inscription such as “We want to work, not to work and die,” “Don’t kill us,” “Stop no work no pay threat,” “Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja doctors are dying, help!”

Other such inscriptions displayed were: “Give us call meals,” “End casualisation of doctors,” “FG, Mr President, come to our aide,” among others.

Arewa PUNCH correspondent who witnessed the protest, saw a group of medical personnel who identified themselves to be members of the Association of Resident Doctors Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja protesting around the hospital premises to register their grievances against the management of the hospital.

Some of the protesting doctors who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation disclosed that many of their female colleagues have repeated  lost their pregnancies because of the work overload they are subjected to.

“The management of the Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja has been very disappointing to us. One of the issues we have been raising with them is that of work overtime and the shortage of manpower. I want to put it on record that in 2020, we had about 222 resident doctors in this hospital.’’

“For over four years now, many of them have moved outside the shores of this country. Some moved to consultant cadre while others resigned and moved to other centres. We are now left with only 64 Residents Doctors. The workload keeps increasing on a daily basis.

“We have advised the management to employ more doctors but they keep telling us that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has refuse to give him – the Chief Medical Director, Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja, Dr Olatunde Alabi, a waiver to employ.

“So, we keep asking him, ‘why has Mr. President not given the CMD a waiver to employ new resident doctors in the hospital?’ We ask them if they can’t employ, why can’t they reduce the workload, they said no.

“In this hospital, doctors run 48 hours without call meal. There is one devilish platform called the GIFNIS. The platform is so devilish that when doctors are put on that platform, they are not given access to their minimum wage and arrears.

“This platform is being used as an excuse to casualise doctors. You won’t imagine that at this age and time, there are hospitals that will employ doctors as locums. Locums is a derogatory statement. It should not be used for doctors,” the source disclosed.

However, the aggrieved source noted  that while “President Tinubu is trying to make the health sector to become the first in the whole wide world, yet some people are ruining his efforts by employing doctors under a Gifnis platform, which is devilish, and they are calling them casuals. They keep recycling their monthly salary. It shouldn’t be as such.

“We want an end to Gifnis platform for doctors in Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja. We also want an end to the point where people will say they don’t have a waiver to employ doctors. There should be speedy advertisements for the employment of doctors, and all the arrears of doctors in the Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja should be paid.”

Another practitioner who also spoke with Arewa PUNCH also agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity so that “I am not used as the scape goat.”

According to her, “We are patriotic. Every worker deserves his or her reward and wages.”

The Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, Kogi State Chaper, Dr Baoku Olusola, who joined the Resident Doctors in the protest, said, “It is a sad day for us here in Kogi State. You can see that I am wearing black as much as all the doctors that are here. The doctors are angry and sad, and of course, in extension, the NMA is sad because of the event that is actually taking place in the Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja.

“We have been communicated three times in the last three months concerning the burning issues  in Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja. We  have been hoping and praying that the management of the hospital would have found a middle ground in resolving all these issues.

“Yesterday was  Labour Day and the Senate Present Godswill Akpabio said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared that no worker must be made to work under harsh, severe situations. So, we are expecting that the leadership and the management of the Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja will call this doctors who are patriotic enough to stay in this country to do their work under very harsh condition, and meet with them, listen to them and be able to solve their problems.

“People can not be on duty for 48 hours, and there will be no food to eat. What of if they collapse? Somebody resuscitating another can collapse. So, who will resuscitate who?  They are thoroughly overworked. These doctors are fighting for their living wages. I can’t imagine that with all the things Mr President has put in place for workers, there are still some doctors that are not getting the N35,000 wage award, just as doctors are being casualised on a platform called GIFMIS and so many problems going on in this hospital.

“I am telling you that. Go and confirm. In FTHL, doctors are not getting their N35,000 wage award. There have been pile up of arrears for the past years that are not being paid to doctors. We are also aware that FTHL, which has about 500 beds that run on over 200 doctors before now, runs through 64 doctors as resident doctors. That is a total collapse of a system.”

Therefore, he called on the Federal Government to quickly intervene by addressing the demands of the Resident Doctors at the hospital.

“Things are going beyond what anybody can confidently say will be peaceful anytime soon. Before these doctors die one after the other or shut down the system, the Federal Government should quickly intervene and bring this problem to a reasonable end,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the medics have vowed to continue their protest until their demands are met by the management of the hospital.

Arewa PUNCH nonetheless gathered that in spite of the situation of things, the management of the hospital said that it will not circumvent any processes in the recruitment of new doctors and other staff in the hospital.

Addressing a press conference in Lokoja on Friday, the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, Dr Ebune Ojochide said the protesters were being economical with the truth.

He explained that the hospital management can not singlehandedly make the decision to employ new doctors and other staff without getting the approval from the Federal Government.

He accused the protesting doctors of failing to officially engage with the hospital management to express their grievances.

Dr Ojochide pointed out, “We have serious shortage of manpower in the health sector across the country because of the japa syndrome. Even as we speak, more health workers are resigning in Nigeria. It is not just here at the FTHL. But, there is an administrative process that is required for recruitment and replacement of workers.

“So, the Federal Government has put on hold, recruitment of workers, including the health sector. Recently, the government considered giving a waiver to the bottle neck concerning recruitment. That is the basic challenge across the nation. An institution like FTHL can not recruit staff without the approval and financial backing, which we have not been given.

“There is a process. That is what we have explained to the Resident Doctors. The administrative process and approval have to be completed with the relevant agencies and the mandate given with the cash backing to recruit.

“Without that, if you recruit, it will be illegal, null, and void, and there will be no money to pay the staff. In the interim, locum medical staff were engaged as a temporary measure to fill in some of the gaps. Let it be on record that locum is not casualisation. They are temporary and not permanent staff. In my unit, we are short of staff. I am the only one out of the three surgeons.

“We can’t afford to allow the service to collapse because doctors, nurses, and other medical staff are leaving the country in droves. We must do all that we can within the available option and resources to keep the system going. That is the answer to what they are protesting.

“I challenge journalists to make their findings, and they will realise that it is not only here at FTHL that we have the shortage of manpower in Nigeria. It is everywhere.

“There is an ongoing process of recruiting new staff in FTHL, but approval has not been given by the government,” Dr. Ojochide concluded.

SOURCE: PUNCH NEWSPAPER

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