•Management, Doctors trade blames
•MDCAN urges them to embrace peace
If there is anything to remember in the on-going industrial action embarked upon by the the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University College Hospital (UCH) chapter since May 1st, it is the untold hardship that it has brought many patients especially those who needed urgent medical attention were turned back by the hospital.
Right now, UCH patients are faced with series of pain and agony as a result of the strike action. Some families are losing their loved ones due to lack of care at the hospital, while others are now seek solace in either private hospitals or traditional clinics including Traditional Birth Attendants, and Faith Based Clinics. One of such unfortunate families was the Owolabi’s that rushed one of their family members to the hospital but was asked to go back home due to the strike. In pain, Wasiu, was rushed to the hospital on Friday morning. He was said to have been bleeding from the nose a night before he was rushed to the hospital in the early hours of Thursday.And because, there was no doctor on ground to attend to any patient, he was advised to go to other hospitals that were open to patients. Similarly, many people have been facing the same agony as a result of the doctor’s strike action.
A preganant woman, Mrs Waliyat was rushed to the Maternity ward, but was turned back. Although, she has been attending her ante-natal clinic in the hospital, she was rejected at the entrance of the hospital based on the ground that nobody will attend to her
And because her condition was critical, she was rushed to a state hospital in the city on emergency and there, she was saved. As if it was not enough, an old man who had a car accident lamented the ordeal he passed through when he came to the hospital on the second day of the strike action. He came from Ikire to Ibadan but was rejected at the entrance of the hospital, despite his critical condition. He was told to look elsewhere for help.
However, those who would not let their families to die now prefer to patronise other hospitals in the city.
Meanwhile, investigation has shown that the in-flocks of pregnant women to the Traditional Birth Attendants clinics are enough to tell the scenario of the after-effect of the indefinite industrial action. Compliance with the strike was total as several clinics departments in UCH were devoid of the usual beehive of activities as the doctors stayed away from their duty posts, forcing hordes of patients, several of whom turned up as early as 6am to seek treatment elsewhere.Another patient, Mrs Yemisi Banjoke, exprssed hope that the strike would not take a long time to be resolved so that people would have access to medical care at the hospital. According to her, accessing a private hospital is totally unaffordable, adding that the level of poverty in the country will not give room for equal rights of the citizenry.
“I cannot afford the cost of treatment at private hospitals that is why I use the general hospitals. This strike will make a lot of people suffer in terms of finance. I appeal to the government to dialogue with the doctors so that the strike does not become indefinite,” she said.At the outpatient department as well as medical and surgical emergency wards, skeletal services were available, but priority was being given to critical cases. Only a handful of patients were encountered waiting for service. One of them, who spoke to The Nation said he was only able to obtain a card because he was familiar with one of the staff duty.
Another patient encountered who identified himself as Taiwo, recounted how he brought his father from Omi-Adio to UCH. “I feel so bad to have come from that far distance only to be told that doctors are on strike. I also feel bad spending money bringing my father yet no doctor to attend to us. It is very painful,” Taiwo lamented.
Another patients, Alhaji Saheed Lamidi lamented the attitude of some nurses at the hospital and appealed to the doctors to return to work, adding that the nurse spoke to patients with little or no respect. In his remark, the President of the ARD, UCH, Dr Lukman Ogunjimi alleged that the university management was reluctant to implement their request for over seven months they have been having negotiation with them. He said casualisation of medical officers and the refusal of the UCH management to honour a circular issued by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation on the welfare of doctors were issues at the centre of the strike.
He said: “We have about 600 doctors in this hospital. The reasons why we are on strike are clear. What we are against is casualisation and we want skipping to be implemented as directed by the Federal Government in circulars issued by the Head of Service of the Federation and that issued by the Federal Ministry of Health.”
The Federal Government in the circular said a particular grade level should be skipped by all health workers. It has been done for all other health workers while some centres have started doing it for doctors. This is backed up. Here in UCH, it has not been done.”He went on that: This strike is a local one and we are following a national directive from our national leaders. Some centres are enjoying all this benefit already and they do not need to join us in the strike action. Just yesterday, Abeokuta branch. Started their own and within two hours their hospital management has resolved their demands” The ARD boss said they have been attending to patients at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the emergency centres, stressing that the care of their patient is very paramount to their hearts.
Ogunjimi appealed to the members of the public and well meaning Nigerians to prevail upon the hospital management to fulfil their demands, threatening that they will not call off the strike. Meanwhile, Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Temitope Alonge, had denied having doctors with casual status in the hospital. Alonge said that some of the issues raised were internal matters that had been resolved, adding that the issue of salaries and wages that are due to workers are not the prerogative of the ministries.
”Funding for the hospital is coming directly from the federal government and when you prepare the budget, it captures specific part of personnel cost, but the issue of Skipping doesn’t exist in the calender of the federal government. When we had a meeting with the resident doctors we explained to them that the budget of 2014 which was approved in 2015 only has the issue of the correction of anomalies of relativity and the issue of Skipping was not captured. It is the prerogative of the National Salary and Wages Commission. So, the issue of employment is resident in the Head of Service and what the resident doctors presented to us was a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
A letter is an intent and does not carry much weight as an MOU. The next one is a circular which is something that has been agreed up and has received the backing of government, it can be issued by government establishment on behalf of government. What we got from the resident doctors was an MOU and not a circular. ‘’In the circular that we have from the National Salary and Wages Commission, there is nothing like skipping for doctors. So, whatever conflict that has arisen, the only body that is empowered to provide an answer is the National Salary Wages Commission. You don’t pay what you don’t have.
No Chief Medical Director (CMD),can unilaterally wake up and change the salary table. He said any CMD in the country that has paid the Skipping allowance will be summoned next week to explain to the Ministry of Health where he got the money from, which salary table he is using and who gave the approval. Alonge assured the people of Oyo State and Nigeria that he does not have any power to withhold salaries that has been appropriated to any healthcare worker.
Also, the consultants, under the aegis of Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria(MDCAN) rose from an emergency congress over the weekend, urging both the striking doctors and the hospital management to sheath their swords for the sake of the patients.The consultants equally revealed that MDCAN has set machinery in motion to address “the contentious issues in collaboration with resident doctors and UCH Management.”A statement by MDCAN General Secretary for UCH, Dr. Victor Makanjuola after the congress said the consultants considered all issues being raised by the resident doctors, declaring them(the issues) as legitimate and urging the hospital management to speedily address them.
