…as patients abandon federal hospitals
The strike embarked upon by the Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU, nationwide is biting hard, as patients have been abandoning Federal Government-owned hospitals.
In Lagos, patients at the Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi have abandoned the facility, with most of the wards nearly empty.
Patients still on admission at the hospital are those unable to move due to the nature of their injury as those who cannot clear up their bills.
One of the patients who did not want his name mentioned has a spinal cord injury, which prevented his relatives from moving him to another hospital.
As he shouted and groaned in pain, there were no nurses around to offer palliative treatment as his wife looked on helplessly.
At another ward, a young boy with first degree burns was among those left at the hospital without treatment. He was wrapped up in bandage and abandoned by the nurses.
Our correspondent gathered that the boy got burnt when a transformer at Orile exploded last week.
At Male Ward G, a patient Daniel, with a leg injury said he was due for discharge but could not leave yet due to the inability to pay his bill.
He had been at the hospital for over four months after sustaining a gunshot injury in his leg.
Daniel said he was lucky as he had already undergone surgery before the strike started.
“Some patients here are in critical situation and they need urgent medical care but the nurses are not on ground to take care of them. At the male ward H, one of the patients died last weekend due to lack of care”, he said.
Since last week when the strike started, the hospital has stopped admitting new patients while discharging as many stable in-patients as possible.
The situation was not different at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, when our correspondent visited.
At the Accident and Emergency ward, family members were the ones attending to their sick relatives.
One of the administrative staff, who did not want his name mentioned, said the management is discharging stable patients due to the inability to manage without the health workers adding that admission of new patients had stopped.
Our correspondent observed that patients who deserted federal hospitals have been trooping to stateowned hospitals currently unaffected by the strike.
One of the patients from LUTH, Ifeoma, who is now admitted at Randle General Hospital, said that the hospital is convenient due to its proximity with LUTH.
Ifeoma, who was diagnosed with breast cancer said she is happy because Lagos state hospitals are not affected by the strike.
Apparently, the Lagos State ‘No work, No pay’ policy may have prevented health workers in the state from joining their federal counterparts in the ongoing strike.
It would be recalled that the members of the states’ Medical Guild had their August and September salaries withheld after participating in the nationwide doctors’ strike this year.
However, Comrade Abioye Omoye, Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professionals, Lagos State branch, expressed the confidence that health workers in the state would join the strike despite the ‘No work, No pay’ policy.
“In another one week or thereabouts, if the government does not accede to our demand, we will tell our members in the state to join the strike. They have every reason to join the strike because they will also benefit from what we are asking for,” he said.
Some of the demands of the striking workers include the immediate release of circular on adjustment of salary since January 2014 and immediate payment of at least two months arrears, while the remaining would be paid after being accommodated in the 2015 budget.
Also in contention is the immediate release of the circular on extension of retirement age to be back-dated to February, 2014, when the issue was presented to the National Council on Establishment and immediate and full payment of arrears of salaries of CONHESS 10 outstanding since 2010.
Meanwhile, the Supervising Minister of Health, Dr Khaliru Alhassan, has appealed to the workers to suspend their industrial action in the interest of the generality of Nigerians.
Alhassan, who said differences could always be resolved through dialogue, said it was necessary the health workers returned to their duty posts in view of their roles in preventing Ebola from sneaking into the country again.
The minister spoke in Ado Ekiti at the weekend during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, between the Federal Government and Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, ABUAD, for the use of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti, FETHI, for the training of ABUAD medical students.
He said: “Though we have no single case of Ebola now in Nigeria. We have been declared Ebola-free, but this is the time Nigeria must be very vigilant to ensure that the virus is not brought back to our country because of issues we can handle with understanding.”
Alhassan said ABUAD had blazed the trail by being the first private university to be given the opportunity having met the requirements on the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, and the National Universities Commission, NUC, for accreditation to train medical doctors.
The MOU followed the building of over N2bn worth Clinical Complex by ABUAD founder, Aare Afe Babalola in the erstwhile Federal Medical Centre now upgraded to a teaching hospital and the approval by President Goodluck Jonathan for its use for the training of ABUAD medical students.
Babalola, who described the occasion as a turning point for Ekiti State, said the feat was achievable with industry, determination, hard work and integrity.
The ABUAD founder, who reiterated the need for Public Private Partnership, PPP, said governments would succeed by cooperating with and encouraging the private sector.
FETHI Chief Medical Director, Dr Majekodunmi Ayodele, praised President Jonathan for embracing PPP in the health sector, saying the singular act would reposition the sector in the country.
Ayodele described the new status of the hospital as a product of hard work and dedication by his staff since the establishment of the medical centre in 1999.
He said that the hospital has the best residency training in Nigeria, which he said was indicative that there would not be compromise in standard and service delivery.
“Today this 300-bed hospital can boast 65 full-time consultants in various fields of medical specialties and had been accredited in eight medical departments by both national and West African Post Graduate Medical Colleges to train resident Doctors.
“We are gathered here today because of a singular effort of Aare Afe Babalola, who refused to be discouraged by brick wall he met on the way towards achieving the great feat,” he said.
BY ABIODUN NEJO AND FRANKA OSAKWE
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
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