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Tag: Doctors

  • Uche pleads with striking doctors to resume

    The Prelate Methodist Church Nigeria, Dr Samuel Uche, has pleaded with striking doctors to abandon their industrial action to save innocent lives.

    He noted that many Nigerians have gone through harrowing ordeals during the action, saying it was high time it was called off.

    Uche also appealed to all parties involved at the negotiating table to arrive at a very just, transparent compromise quickly in the best interest of Nigeria.

    The Prelate, in a statement, called on stakeholders to work together a functional and affordable health care delivery service for Nigerians.

    He told the doctors to accept their services as a sacrifice to alleviate the suffering of the masses.

    ‘’Please let us give our very best services to all in every human endeavour so that we register our efforts on the sands of time at all times,’’ he pleaded.

  • Bomb Blast: Group commends doctors for patriotism

    Bomb Blast: Group commends doctors for patriotism

    A non governmental organization (NGO), under the aegis of Health Initiative Forum (HIF), yesterday in Kano, commended Resident Doctors in Kano and Kaduna states who voluntarily went back to work following the bomb blasts that rocked the two ancient cities.

    It will be recaled that the Resident Doctors Association of Nigeria had on July 1 embarked on strike to press home their demands to the government.

    Moved by the level of casualties recorded during the bomb attacks, the doctors decided to temporarily call off the strike for the sake of the blast victims.

    HIF praised the show of patriotism on the part of the professionals, adding that their swift reactions saved many lives that were having life threatening injuries.

    Chairman of the group, Alhaji Bala Danladi, during a chat with reporters, observed the human feeling in the hearts of the doctors that participated in the rescue operations and their leadership in the affected states.

    “Despite their perennial disagreement with the Federal Government, these doctors believe that the strike action should not stop them from showing love to Nigerians under such emergency situations.

    “We also believe that Nigerian doctors are not enemies of Nigerians as some elements were trying hard to make us believe. They love us and they still believe with the government genuine intervention in the health sector many things would improve according to international best practices,” he stated.

    While commending the widely circulated statement of the President of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD), Dr Jibril Abdullahi, immediately after the happening of Kaduna blasts, the group urged federal government to make a second thought in her stand on the doctors’ demands.

    The group also said that they were impressed by the immediate action taken by the Kano branch chairman of NARD, Dr. Shamsudeen Mashi, who decided to call off the strike for the sake hapless Nigerians who were involved in the terror attack.

    According to Danladi, “the group learnt that immediately after the incidence of the New Road motor park, the Kano branch chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr Sharfuddeen Mashi, confirmed to journalists that doctors were directed to go to the hospital and rescue victims.

    “This is a patriotic posture to the core from the part of doctors. We should therefore request government to also genuinely understand the critical work of our dear doctors in the country. Anything short of heeding to doctors’ demands will not augur well for the health sector in the country.

    “It is from the part of the government that you come to reluctant postulations in terms of respecting and fulfilling provisions of agreements reached by the two parties.”

  • Nurses fault doctors strike

    Nurses in the country have condemned the ongoing strke by the medical doctors.
    They urged government to stop all doctors on it’s pay roll from establishing private clinics.
    Besides, the nurses under tbe umbrella of National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) also condemned what it described unethical behavior or practice of Medical Practitioners whereby in-patients are compulsory discharged against their wish whenever Nigeria Medical Association calls for industrial action.
    The Nurses in a statement issued on Sunday and made available to newsmen in Abuja expressed displeasure over the strike, stressing that NMA always wants to make it appear that the patients left the hospital because doctors are on strike.
    The statement which was signed by Mr. Yusuf-Badmus, General Secretary, NANNM stressed that, “the public at large must be made to know that most in-patients are in the hospital for comprehensive healthcare (physical and psychological) and are being taken care of by the nurses and other health professionals, except those that have been booked for surgical procedures or surgical operation.
    ” The medical practitioner therefore, has no moral nor ethical justification to compulsorily force them (in-patients) out of the hospital to make the hospital empty because doctors are on strike.”
    He explained further that “Anti natal care, deliveries and post natal cares are handled by skilled nurses or midwives even where we have or do not have medical practitioners. Most hospitals or health facilities in Nigeria are run today without medical practitioners especially in the rural or semi urban areas where the medical practitioners have distained and refused to work.
    “The public are therefore encouraged to attend and patronize the hospitals because other health professionals such as skill midwives, the accident and emergency (A & E) Nurses, intensive care nurses, orthopedic nurses pediatric nurses etc. including the medical laboratory scientists, medical record officers, the radiographers the physiotherapists and pharmacists etc are on ground to attend to their health needs.”
    It further stated, “All government health workers should have a unified salary scales. Difference should be entry/exit points and professional/peculiar allowances of the different cadres of workers. This will go a long way in checking and prevent unhealthy rivalry and end to the incessant strike action, that leaves the innocent patient to suffer.”

  • As doctors’ strike bites, NDDC’s health mission rescues the sick

    As doctors’ strike bites, NDDC’s health mission rescues the sick

    As doctors’ strike continues to bite, residents of  communities in the Niger Delta are being rescued by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from dire health challenges,  writes WALE AJETUNMOBI

    As the nation-wide strike embarked upon by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) casts an ominous shadow over a sick medical delivery system, one woman was writhing in labour pains in a health facility deep in the heartland of the Ibibios. The travails of Mrs. Iniobong Fidelix, who hails from Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, would have ended in death, were  it not for a providential free health mission in a nearby local government area.

    Iniobong’s pregnancy was at its turbulent peak and she was taken to the hospital in Ikono. Unfortunately, there was no doctor at the hospital to attend to her because they were on strike. The nurses could not do much as Iniobong was having complications and needed to be operated upon. The saving grace for this poor woman and her unborn baby was the Free Health Care Medical Programme organised by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, in conjunction with Global Hands Medicare Foundation, at the Ekpene Obo Cottage Hospital in Esit Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

    It was a happy and proud Dr. Katherine Ntekim, the director of the foundation running the NDDC-sponsored free medical programme that told the story of the Ikono woman who was saved at the nick of time. According to her, Iniobong was lucky to have been rushed to the venue of the medical intervention in time to save her live and that of her baby. “She was rushed in for an emergency caesarian section from a general hospital where doctors’ strike had paralyzed healthcare delivery to this place where we saved her and her new-born baby.”

    She gave kudos to the NDDC for making it possible for her organisation to assemble medical experts in various specialisations to attend to the needs of people who may not have had access to such highly qualified medical personnel. According to the medical director, the week-long programme covered various aspects of medicare.

    The popular Free Health Care Medical Programme, which covers different communities in the Niger Delta region, as part of NDDC’s commitment to bring qualitative healthcare delivery service to the door-steps of the people of the region, was flagged off simultaneously in Abia and Akwa Ibom states on July 9.

    Speaking at the Ekpene Obo Cottage Hospital, the NDDC Managing Director, Bassey Dan-Abia, said the programme was meant to bring healthcare to the door-steps of rural dwellers. The NDDC boss, who was represented by Etim Inyang Jnr, the Akwa Ibom State representative on the board of the commission, said that no less than 900,000 people have benefited from its free medical services since the programme started 14 years ago. He stated that the commission was determined to make a difference in the health sector through the engagement of relevant partners such as Global Hand Medicare Foundation, Goldspin Healthcare, Total Health-Minders Foundation and others.

    He said: “It is our belief that after this programme, the people of Esit Eket will say farewell to all the endemic health problems that have long plagued them. It is expedient to mention here that the health partners are expected to hand over substantial quantities of efficacious drugs to the hospital management for the treatment of those who had some major operations.”

    The NDDC Deputy Director for Education, Health and Social Services, Dr. Solomon Ita, said the goal of the commission was to make medical services accessible to the people of the Niger Delta, especially those who live in the rural areas.  He noted that the commission had always placed a high premium on healthcare delivery, adding that it had extended health facilities and services to many communities across the region.

    According to Dr Ita, of all the development programmes which the NDDC had undertaken in the Niger Delta, the one that brought tremendous relief and made immediate impact on the lives of the rural people was the free health care programme.

    “The free health missions have gone round virtually all corners of the Niger Delta, healing the sick and giving hope to the medically challenged,” he said.

    The NDDC director explained that the free health care programme was a combination of many activities, which included carrying out of HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, healthcare promotion and malaria roll-back campaign.

    “The comprehensive health missions provide all forms of medical services, ranging from general consultation, laboratory services, general and gynaecological surgeries, as well as eye and dental services. Apart from the free medical missions, the NDDC has committed substantial resources to providing physical infrastructure in the health sector across the Niger Delta,” he said.

    The Chairman of Esit Eket Local Government Area, Ibanga Itang, praised the NDDC for bringing the free medical programme to his locality, noting that the council was always ready to collaborate with agencies and organisations that provide needed services to the rural areas. He said that the mobile health care delivery system was a practical way of reaching the sick in the rural communities. “This effort is very well appreciated as can be seen from the huge number of people that have come to benefit from the free health care. The high demand for the health care services is understandable, especially as doctors in our public hospitals are on strike,” he said.

    Mr. Anieffiok Gabriel, who brought a relative for treatment, said he was delighted that the free healthcare programme came to Ekpene Obo at a time he was almost giving up hope on how to save his aunty who was very sick but could not find money to go for medical treatment. “We are glad the NDDC has come to our rescue,” he said.

    Anieffiok is one out of many poor people in the remote communities of the Niger Delta who have been rescued through the intervention of the NDDC’s free medical missions. For one week, the Ekpene Obo Cottage Hospital was a beehive of activities as the sick and their caring relatives thronged the place for medical attention.

    The free health programme is still moving from one community to the other in all the 9 states covered by the NDDC.

     

     

  • Doctors and health sector crisis

    Recently the media has been awash with comments and write ups by some doctors who in a bid to justify the current strike of the Nigeria Medical Association are putting forward arguments that are capable of misinforming the public about the Nigerian health sector. Part of such arguments is that doctors are all in all and that they can effectively do the work of other health professionals while others cannot do the doctor’s work. They claim that the physician of old merely delegated some of his duties to people who are now called pharmacists, physiotherapists, nurses, laboratory technologists etc. just for convenience and he can take it back any time he so wishes.

    Some doctors also claim that other health workers having been trained by them to merely assist them do their work, should not now start to demand to hold any leadership position in the health sector because it should naturally be the birthright of the doctor. So, doctors see absolutely no reason for other health workers to seek to attain the post of consultants in their own field or directors in the hospitals, as according to them, it will just create crisis in the hospitals and other health facilities. Another claim is that most of the other health professionals found themselves in their respective fields because they were either unable to meet up with the requirements for medicine or were withdrawn from medical schools because they could not cope with the rigours. Thus many of these ‘failures’ now begrudge doctors and strive to become one through the back door.

    I believe that if things are not put in proper perspective, these comments may successfully create an impression in the general public that other health workers are begrudging doctors or seeking to become doctors through the backdoor when it is indeed the doctors that are illegally encroaching into the constitutionally recognised roles of non- doctors.

    While it is true in ages past, that physicians were a Jack of all trades as far as treatment of the patient was concerned, the practice in the wisdom of practitioners was later broken down into different disciplines for better efficiency and specialisation. It was not to make any health worker a servant or slave to the other. Every discipline is important and all are expected to work together and collaborate to achieve a better patient outcome. Therefore, the claim that the doctor can do the work of every member of the health team is therefore a very big fallacy because he was never trained to do so.

    The multidisciplinary approach to treating patients which many Nigerian doctors are trying so hard to downplay today is firmly established, promoted and appreciated in developed countries like the United Kingdom, United States and Canada. There, no one feels superior to another. No one brandishes irrelevant ego. All that matter is the patient’s well-being and everyone will go to any extent to put their heads together in order to achieve the best outcome for the patient.

    Nigerian doctors when they travel abroad to practice follow these laid down principles and do their utmost to collaborate with other health professionals in the interest of the patient. However, in Nigeria, doctors have thrown global best practices to the wind and see other health professionals as servants who should receive orders rather than collaborate with them. They would rather have a less than desirable patient outcome than having to ‘descend so low’ as to seek the opinion of other health workers in the management of the patient. Even though some of them do, majority who do not, view them with derision and would want them blacklisted if they had their way.

    Rather than putting their heads together to discuss ways of tackling the problems bedeviling the Nigerian health sector, the Nigerian doctors have preoccupied themselves with means of continuing the culture of suppression and intimidation of other health care professionals in the health sector.

    For instance, why will the doctors go on strike because another health professional will be appointed a consultant in his own field having acquired the required knowledge and qualification?

    Why will the doctor negotiate for and accept to be paid 160% of his basic salary as call duty allowance but would insist that the radiologist must settle for less than 80% rather than the 100% he is clamouring for?

    Why will Nigerian doctors threaten to go on strike if anyone but them is made the health minister knowing full well that the post is purely administrative and is not an exclusive preserve of health experts in most nations of the world? Why does the doctor have a phobia for a non-doctor becoming a permanent secretary in the ministry of health? Why are doctors being imposed on laboratory technologists and scientists to become Heads of Department in many hospital laboratories? Several other acts of repression are perpetrated by doctors in the health sector.

    I expect some of the commentators in the media to mention specific instances where other health care providers have encroached into the practice of doctors in the hospitals, which could have warranted such a high level of mistrust. Rather, all they did was base their arguments solely on vague assumptions.

    The law does not permit the doctor to be in charge of drug procurement as is being practiced in many Nigerian hospitals today. The law forbids a non-pharmacist to dispense ethical drugs even in private hospitals but today quacks and auxiliary nurses are recruited by doctors in private practice to dispense steroids and the most delicate of controlled drugs.

    Framers of the laws regulating pharmacy practice discourage the setting up of privately owned pharmacies in government hospitals. Today, many Chief Medical Directors have either unilaterally or in connivance with commissioners or minister of health (who are doctors) established private pharmacies in government hospitals. Most of them enjoy controlling shares in these profit maximizing outlets through their fronts and cronies. Who then is trying to become what through the backdoor?

    The law permits a first degree holder to rise up to Grade Level  17 in the civil service as long as he passes the required examinations and meets every other requirement, but doctors, through Chief Medical Directors in the federal government hospitals do everything within their means to frustrate promotion of non-doctors above Grade Level  15. In fact, doctors do not disguise their phobia for seeing non- doctors in the directorate cadre.

    When some of these illegalities are successfully contested in competent courts of law and judgments obtained, ‘the powers that be’ have devised means of circumventing such judgments, just like they are doing with the current contemptuous strike.

    That most doctors speak about the military era with nostalgia cannot surprise anyone that has been following events in the health sector in the last three decades. It was during the Babangida regime that the leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association used their closeness to the military to get Decree 10 promulgated which essentially amended the laws that prescribe fairness and harmony in the health sector to ones that make the doctor a demigod, and accords to him salaries and emoluments that were skies above his other contemporaries in the health sector. It was indeed during this era that doctors were able to corner every position that matters in the health sector. Administrative posts that were hitherto held by professional administrators and social scientists were hijacked by medical doctors. In any gathering of decision makers in the health ministry today, more than 75% of the roll call will be medical doctors.

    It is advisable that Nigerian doctors accept the team work approach to medical practice as is the norm in civilized societies. The current scenario that makes the doctor sees himself as god and other health workers as lesser beings can only portend doom for medical practice in Nigeria. The current practice that assigns the doctor to almost all administrative posts in the health sector and makes him feed fat while others settle for crumbs is no longer sustainable and will only make the health sector crisis a recurring decimal.

    • Adekunle, a pharmacist, writes from Matogun, Ogun State

     

  • Alleged sale of day-old baby lands nurses,native doctors in trouble

    Alleged sale of day-old baby lands nurses,native doctors in trouble

    A syndicate alleged to specialise in the sale of body parts of day-old babies by conspiring with nurses in hospitals has been smashed by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command. The nurses are believed to cause the death of the babies shortly after they are born, after which they sell the bodies to a syndicate consisting of ritual killers and native doctors.

    Rilwan Saula (39) was arrested along with five other suspects, namely Bolaji Fagbemi (38), a trado-medical nurse in training; Lasisi Olayinka (40), also a nurse in the same hospital as Olayinka; Alhaji Surajudeen Faronbi (55), who claimed to be a native doctor; Taofeek Abidakun (41), another native doctor who claims to buy human parts to prepare his medicine and Akindele Majiyagbe (50), who insisted that the parts found with him were those of a bird and not a human being.

    A police source told our reporter: “On the 18th of June this year, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Abubakar Manko, got information that some criminals comprising a native doctor and two nurses at a certain hospital in Alagbado, Lagos had murdered a day-old baby and were about to use the body for money making rituals.

    “As a result, CP Manko directed the officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police (SP), to act immediately. Hence, operatives led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ade Adetarami were deployed there to play along with the criminals, which led to the arrest of a native doctor named Alhaji Sikiru. Also arrested were Bolaji Fagbemi and Lasisi Olayinka, while the corpse of the day-old baby girl was found with one Saula Rilwan, a trado-medical nurse. The suspect confessed to the offence and took SARS detectives to the affected hospital.”

    The police source said that Saula further stated that a nurse in the said hospital, named Bolaji Fagbemi, sold the baby to him for money making ritual and claimed that it was with the knowledge of the management of the hospital.

    The confessions of Saula was said to have led to the arrest of other suspects, namely Alhaji Surajudeen Faronbi, who was allegedly arrested with two human heads, Taofeek Abidakun, who was said to have been arrested with one human head and one Akindele Majiyagbe.

    The source further revealed that further investigation was still being conducted into the matter while others who were still at large, especially those that are based in Abule Egba, Ahmadiyya, Ijaiye Ojokoro and Sango areas, were being hunted by the police.

    The police source said the corpse of the day-old baby was being kept in the mortuary along with other human parts that were found with the suspects, saying that they would be helpful in the prosecution of the suspects.

    In his confession, Saula, one of the suspects, said: “I am a 39-year-old native of Yewa, Ogun State. But I reside at Church Street, Ijaiye Ojokoro, Alimosho Local Government Area. I have three children.

    “I sell herbs at Agege Main Market. In 2005, police arrested us and I left the market and became an alfa. I cure stroke and any illness that orthodox medicine cannot cure.

    “I started selling human parts at the time I was selling herbs. At that time, two boys came to me to learn work, but I did not accept them. The two boys came last month and said they needed human parts. They said they had gone to a native doctor but they needed two heads for the medicine to work. They gave me N20,000, but I did not do it.

    “Bolaji, my customer, who works as a nurse in the hospital, called me and said that she had the body of a baby who had just died. I asked her where the mother was and she said the mother had given it to her to throw away. She said the baby was only 24 hours old.”

    On her part, Bolaji, a native of Ikire, Osun State, said: “I am a nurse. I gave him (Saula) the baby. I was given the baby by the mother to throw away. I am married with four children.”

    Asked why the baby in question died, Bolaji said: “I am a trainee nurse and I am not on salary. I am learning traditional nursing. Pregnant women give birth in the hospital. The baby was an imbecile and was sick. She was not normal.

    “The baby did not even cry when she was born. I did not collect money from him (Saula). The parents of the baby are Muslims and Saula is also a Muslim. Therefore I gave the dead baby to him to go and bury because the way Muslims do their burial is different from the way Christians do theirs.

    The third suspect, Yinka, said: “I am a trado-medical nurse in the hospital. I am nine years in trado-medicine practice. I am from Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. I am the nurse that took delivery of the baby.

    “The baby died within 24 hours of delivery. I called the father on the phone and he told me that he was not around. He said I could call any member of the family. When the family member I called came, I told him that the baby was dead. He said he did not know the cemetery where he would bury the child.

    “I called Nurse Bolaji to know whether she knew a cemetery where the baby could be buried and she said she would help to throw away the dead child. He gave her N500 for transport.

    “When the director of our hospital came, he asked me why I did that without consulting him. He later asked me to give the body of the baby to the sister of the mother in his presence. The director then told Bola to help them throw the dead baby away since she claimed to know the dustbin where the child could be thrown into.

    “The baby had come out alive, but she had three toes. I told the mother the position of her baby and also called the husband to come and see the baby’s fingers. I told the husband to come and take the child to a better hospital. Water and blood were coming out of the child’s nose and mouth, but the father said I should leave it to God.”

    The fourth suspect, Taofeek, said: “I am a native doctor. I have never bought human parts. I am from Igbese in Ogun State, married with five children. I am a spiritualist with two wives. I practice in Ogun State.

    “I sold igun (vulture) parts, not human parts.”

    The fifth suspect, Majiyagbe, said: “I am 50 years old. I am just a bricklayer. I am married with three children. I gave Saula N18,000 to buy a live partridge to do a job for me. But when he was arrested, he mentioned me as one of his customers because he had been threatening to kill me.

    The sixth suspect, Faronbi, said: “I am 53. I am from Abeokuta, Ogun State. I am a traditional doctor. I cure long-term wounds and madness. I inherited the job. Any human bone bought from the market can be used to prepare powerful drugs that can cure difficult illnesses.

    “I bought pieces of heads two times from Saula. The first time I paid N4,000 and the second one was N4,500. The total money I gave him was N8,500. I have been buying pieces of human heads to make traditional medicine.

    “I have never bought the full head of a human being. I buy the eyes, ears, noses, tongues and necks. They are very cheap.”

  • Brazil to report doctors over Neymar final claims

    The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) threatened to report doctors for recommending Neymar play in the FIFA World Cup final.

    Neymar fractured a vertebra in Brazil’s 2-1 quarter-final win over Colombia on Friday when Juan Camilo Zuniga injured the forward in the back in the second half.

    While the 22-year-old Brazilian was ruled out of the rest of the World Cup within a couple of hours of the quarter-final in Fortaleza, reports emerged on Sunday that Neymar could play in the tournament decider, if Brazil defeated Germany in their semi-final.

    But CBF head doctor Jose Luiz Runco strenuously denied Neymar could be fit for the final, while the Brazilian governing body declared they would report any doctors that had recommended pain-killing injections for breaching medical ethics.

    Reports in the Brazilian media suggested the doctors of Santos – Neymar’s former club – had told both the player and his family that he could recover quickly enough to play in the final at the Maracana.

    But Runco dismissed those suggestions on Monday.

    “There is absolutely no chance that Neymar will play,” Runco told ESPN.

    “Right now, Neymar has a stable injury to his spinal column, which needs bone healing.

    “If the injury received any further impact it could become unstable, which would cause problems both to Neymar the player and the human being.”

  • Doctors meet today on national strike

    Doctors meet today on national strike

    •Lagos hospitals in skeletal services

    Doctors, under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), will hold an emergency delegates’ meeting in Abuja today to review their demands and negotiations with the Federal Government.

    One of delegates said the meeting will appraise the outcome of the July 3 meeting in Abuja between members of the NMA’s National Executive Council, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Minister of Health and other top officials in the Federal Ministry of Health.

    The source said the outcome of the meeting would determine whether or not the nationwide strike, in its second week, would be suspended.

    The sources added: “We can’t call off the strike without the congress meeting. That is where we are going to decide whether or not we are satisfied with whatever agreement the executives have reached with the Federal Government. We will appraise what is on offer, vis-a-vis our demands. Then we will take the stand of the house back to the government for further negotiation.

    “Many of the issues raised in the letter we wrote to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation have not been addressed. It seems they are playing politics with a very delicate situation that may cause anarchy and divisions in the Health sector. It was a surprise when we read in the news that the Federal Government said it had reached an agreement with us.”

    Doctors in federal and state-owned hospitals started a nationwide strike on July 1 over issues relating to appointments of officers into choice positions in the nation’s public health institutions.

    The NMA, in a 24-point demand letter to the Federal Government in June, directed that either such positions be reversed or doctors would begin a total nationwide strike, which they started last week.

    Also, the Lagos State chapter of the NMA yesterday said it will meet today to deliberate on the letter its national body received from the Federal Government on the indefinite nationwide strike it declared last week.

    Its Chairman, Dr Francis Faduyile, said the government wrote the association to present its position on the doctors’ 24-point demands.

    He said the NMA would assess letter to decide on the next line of action.

    Faduyile said no decision could be reached on the strike until the association’s top leaders meet.

    The doctors, he said, would continue with the strike until the national NMA directs otherwise.

    The NMA state chairman accused the Federal Government of causing the strike because of the distortions it created in the Health sector.

    Patients were still agonising at the weekend in public hospitals in the state.

    Then strike enters the sixth day today.

    At the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igboi, Lagos (NOHIL) and the Federal Medical Centre at Ebute Metta, among other facilities, doctors boycotted their duty posts in compliance with the NMA directive.

    Most patients sought treatment in private hospitals.

  • Photo: Doctors strike across Nigeria

    Photo: Doctors strike across Nigeria

  • Doctors abandon hospitals in Abia

    Doctors abandon hospitals in Abia

    AS the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) strike entered the second day yesterday, many patients were left unattended to at Federal Government hospitals in Abia State.

    The Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Umuahia, the state capital, patients begged reporter for treatment, thinking he was a doctor.

    Many of the patients were writhing in pains.

    One of them, Sir Fynecountry Ogbonna, said: “I came to see my doctor, according to the appointment he gave me three weeks ago. Incidentally, the nurses told me that doctors are on strike.

    “I’ll have to go to a chemist to buy the drugs that will keep me for another seven days, when I hope they (doctors) will be in their offices. In fact, I don’t know what to say. Someone is sick, the doctor gives him an appointment but when he comes, they say the doctor is on strike. That is very disappointing.”

    Another patient, who had surgery last Friday, was abandoned at the FMC in Umuahia.

    She was said to be in pains because the surgical point had loosened and was oozing fluid to her legs.

    Relatives of the patient told our reporter that they were asked to take her home, despite  the freshness of the wound.

    But at the Abia State Specialist and Diagnostic Hospital on Aba Road in Umuahia, house doctors were seen attending to patients.

    Senior doctors and consultants were not on duty. The situation was the same at the General Hospital in Amachara.

    The state’s NMA Chairman Dr. Dan Uzoaga said the unions in the hospitals had been fighting to be at par with the doctors in the past three years.

    He said: “Other medical workers have been making things difficult by asking for things that do not belong to them. And the government has been dancing to the tune they have been playing…”