There WAS noticeable confusion among patients on admission in some government hospitals in Lagos on Tuesday on whether to voluntarily discharge themselves or allow nurses and other healthcare workers take over their management, as medical doctors began an indefinite strike.
The confusion was typical of some of the critically ill patients who were still on admission in the ‘E Ward’, ‘B2 Ward’ and the paediatric wards of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) when Daily Independent visited the hospital.
The striking doctors were obeying the directive from the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to stay off duty indefinitely until they sort out areas of differences on management of public health institutions between them and government.
Reports from across the country said the doctors in public health facilities were, like their counterparts at LUTH, staying off duty until they get contrary directive from their national association.
A visibly shaken Madam Chinonso Nwogbo who was beside her grandchild at the paediatric ward at LUTH told our correspondent on Tuesday that the family was considering taking the child who is being managed for some undisclosed ailment to a private hospital but needed a referral from the doctor.
“We are still waiting for the discharge,” added.
According to LUTH Public Relations Officer, Hope Nwawolo, “the management has resolved to manage as many patients willing to stay back by appealing to the consultants to help out, but would not hold back anyone wishing to voluntarily discharge to a private facility for continued care and treatment”.
At the General Hospital, Orile Agege, also in Lagos, some of the locum (contract) doctors recently employed by the government were on hand to attend to patients with the assistance of nurses at the clinics.
But many of the patients on admission at the General Hospital were not sure how long the strike would last hence, undecided whether to seek for discharge.
A Senior Matron in the hospital told our correspondent that the contract doctors have been rendering the needed assistance, but “no one was sure for how long”.
At the Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Mascara, Ketu, scores of mothers were seen with their babies most of whom were brought in on emergency and for routine check-up.
They were equally seen being attended to by the Medical Officer on duty.
Chairman, Lagos State chapter of NMA, Francis Faduyile, said his members would ensure total compliance with the strike call.
“There is no doubt that some of our doctors are still attending to patients, especially those who were brought in on emergency; we are not unmindful that a lot of people may be unaware of the strike,” he added.
In Abuja, doctors in public hospitals were said to have discharged their patients voluntarily on Monday in preparation for the indefinite strike.
Visits to some hospitals visited by Daily Independent on Tuesday revealed that only those with critical conditions and others at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) were left.
They were, however, being attended to by nurses only.
At the National Hospital, Abuja, a patient who did not want her name in print at the ICU said: “Yesterday (Monday) in the evening the doctors came and said they have discharged me voluntarily. But this morning, the nurses came and told me that they will attend to me and that is why I am still here”.
In his reaction, spokesman of the National Hospital, Tayo Haastrup, said the hospital only discharged patients that were due but those at the ICU were still being taken care of.
At the Asokoro General Hospital, a reliable source said a management meeting was held on Monday morning to reduce the impact of the strike.
Daily Independent gathered that Medical Consultants were around the hospital to help in reduce the impact of the strike.
Some doctors were said to have only come around to assist management in discharging patients while others who came to observe happenings in the hospital closed earlier than the normal time.
Speaking about the outcome of the meeting, the source said: “the management decided that House Officers should attend to critical cases in the ward, while other patients will be discharged”.
Also, patients at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yola, were disappointed as doctors in the hospital complied with the directive of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) to go on strike.
When the Daily Independent visited the hospital on Tuesday, doctors were seen coming in and going out of the hospital without attending to the patients who waited patiently to be attended to.
However, consultants and other para-medical personnel were seen attending to patients at various wards even though some of the patients were seen leaving the hospital for lack of proper attention.
A patient, Yakubu Musa, who spoke to Daily Independent on Tuesday, blamed doctors for not giving patients enough time to look for alternatives before embarking on their strike, stressing that some of the patients are not capable of settling the huge amount of money charged at private hospitals.
Medical services were completely grounded in both federal and state hospitals in Edo State in the wake of the strike by the doctors.
A visit to some of the hospitals showed that both the resident doctors and consultants were taking part in the strke which paralised all aspects of medical service to in the out patients departments.
At the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) it was discovered that new patients were not being admitted while those on admission were either being discharged or receiving treatment from some kind hearted medical officers.
One of the senior officers who spoke to our correspondent said NMA officials were already meeting over the issue.
Oyo State chapter Chairman of the NMA, Adefolarin Malomo, said his members would give the strike a human face by observing it in line with proper professional regulations.
He explained that as doctors, they could not go on strike like others, stressing that they would be attending to extreme and dire cases in line with the prescribed guidelines by the regulatory bodies on how doctors could go on strike.
Malomo, who maintained that “our job is to preserve life”, spoke at a media briefing in Ibadan on Tuesday at the state secretariat of the NMA.
He lamented that the language so loved by the government is the one doctors hate to speak.
Meanwhile, the strike has started taking its toll on several patients at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, as most of them were not attended to by the striking doctors.
Ekiti State chapter of the NMA expressed opposition to the idea of appointing nurses and pharmacists as consultants and chief medical directors in public health institutions.
It advocated the scrapping of Joint Health Sector Union, which represents the amalgamation of all health sectors in the country and allow each professional affiliate body to operate through their parent organisations.
At a press conference in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday, NMA Chairman in Ekiti State, Obitade Obimakinde, said such new structure as being mooted by the Federal Government would cause internal confusion in the health institutions and colossal suffering to patients.
Doctors in public hospitals in Delta State stayed away from work in accordance with the directive from the NMA.
The Federal Medical Centre (FMC) and the General Hospital, both in Asaba, were devoid of the usual hustle and bustle, as resident doctors and consultants stayed away from duty while some patients were sighted being moved away.
While the doctors were tidying up things to discharge the patients on admission, they equally embargoed admission of new patients even on emergencies.
Medical doctors in Anambra State were yet to withdraw their services in compliance with the directive of their national association.
They provided services on Tuesday while the association’s state congress held at Onitsha General Hospital lasted.
Doctors who did not attend the congress attended to patients while awaiting directives from their chairman.
Chairman of the state branch of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Marcel Nnoba, told Daily Independent that in the congress that lasted over three hours, doctors drew 24 conditions “which are legitimate things demanded from the Federal Government that it ought to attend to make our work easier”.
Patients who came for consultation and treatment at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilorin, returned home unattended to as the doctors at the hospital joined their colleagues nation-wide to begin indefinite strike.
The patients who went to the hospitals from across Kwara State and outside the state had to leave disappointedly after they were made to understand that there was no doctor to attend to them.
Chairman of the state chapter of the NMA, Olayinka Buhari, said the strike was total and that it would continue in all government hospitals until the national leadership directed otherwise.
Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) Nnewi stopped admitting new patients on Tuesday.
Although the tempo of the strike was still low in NAUTH, most of the new patients, including those with serious ailments who reported to the referral hospital were disappointed as the authorities told them that they cannot be admitted.
No comments:
Post a Comment