Nurses in Kaduna State have appealed to striking doctors to return to work in the interest of the poor, who cannot afford expensive health care services.

Doctors under the aegis of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) on July 1, 2014, embarked on a nationwide strike to press home their demands. 

Speaking in an interview yesterday, Matron of Doka General Hospital in Kachia Local Government Area, Magaret David, said nurses are only managing the situation. "We still do our nursing management. When patients come with complaints, we do tepid sponge where we need to. We reassure, we talk vital signs and give some analgesics as senior nurses, while we ask the patients to go with the hope that the strike will be called of soon", he said.

The matron, who said they been referring patients they cannot manage as nurses to private hospitals for medical attention she appealed to doctor to call off the strike in the interest of rural dwellers.

"All fingers are not equal, majority of patients who come to this hospital are rural dwellers, it is easier for them to pay for health services here but they may not be able to afford services in private or other hospitals. Sometimes, when we are referring them, we turn our faces away form them because you will see the pain and agony on their faces. So doctors should have pity on the poor and call off the strike," she said