Nationwide strike: Resident Doctors shun stranded patients

…as Relatives seek treatment in private hospitals

…no-work-no-pay directive will not work – NARD

By Our correspondents and news agency

Patients across the nation were left stranded on Monday due to commencement of the nationwide strike by Resident Doctors.

Nigerian NewsDirect had reported that the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) had called on its members nationwide to proceed on an indefinite nationwide strike, beginning from Monday, Aug. 2.

NARD embarked on nationwide indefinite strike to press home the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding it entered into with the federal government in March 2021.

A visit to some hospitals in Abuja, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, and Anambra  by Nigerian NewsDirect revealed that patients received no attention while Doctors were  not at site to treat them.

Speaking with our correspondent in some hospital visited in Ondo, families with sick patients said the strike by Doctors has denied treatment of  sick people while some decided to take their sick ones to private hospitals.

The members of resident Doctors of Nigeria, University College Hospital, Ibadan on Monday joined their counterparts nationwide for an indefinite strike called by the NARD.

The Doctors stayed away from their respective duty posts at the hospital while other activities continue.

Our correspondent who was at the Lounge of the Resident Doctors within the hospital, reports that the premises was deserted as only the President of the Association, Dr Zakariyah Hussain and few principal officers were on ground to monitor members compliance with the action.

Dr. Hussain while highlighting some of the demands of the Doctors in an interview with our correspondent accused the federal and state governments of being insensitive to the plight of the Association in ensuring qualitative healthcare delivery in Nigeria.

He maintained that several measures were selected by the leadership of the Association to avoid nationwide strike noting that the government has been foot dragging on the matter.

While promising that the door of the Association is open to dialogue on all contending issues, Dr. Hussain urged Nigerians to see reasons with the Association and prevail on the government to do the needful.

The industrial action ordered by the national leadership of the NARD also took effect at the tertiary health institutions in Anambra.

The institutions are the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi and the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Amaku, Awka.

Chairman of ARD, NAUTH branch, Dr Golibe Ikpeze said they joined the strike at 8 a.m. on Monday having been duly debriefed by the parent body.

Ikpeze said NARD members had stopped rendering clinical services and left them in the hands of Consultants and others who were not members of the NARD.

The chairman said patients had been briefed on the development with the assurance that the Consultants were still on ground.

“As members of the NARD, we will ensure 100 per cent compliance to the strike which was the resolution we had after a meeting in Umuahia, Abia State.

“None of us will go against that; though doctors are still in the hospital, they are not NARD members. We gave the Federal Government more than 100 days to address the issues at stake to no avail.

“The issues include paucity of doctors, non-payment of salaries owed and allowances, issues of recruitment, postings of house officers and all of that,” he said.

Ikpeze said doctors were still handling the COVID-19 pandemic resurgence for which government was doing nothing to appreciate the hazards the doctors faced.

At COOUTH Awka, many doctors were seen within the hospital premises.

The leadership of NARD, COOUTH branch could not be reached for the position of the association in the hospital but some who spoke under the condition of anonymity said they were complying with the directive.

However, Dr Joseph Ugboaja, Acting Chief Medical Director of NAUTH said that the hospital would continue to do its best to ensure that patients were taken care of.

Ugboaja said Consultants and other health workers would be doing their job as the issues were resolved while urging patients not to panic.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) said any no-work-no-pay directive issued by the Federal Government aimed at compelling the association to end its indefinite strike will not work.

The NARD President, Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi who said this in Abuja on Monday, urged the federal government to hold accountable relevant agencies responsible for addressing the issues previously raised by the association during its earlier strike in April for dereliction of duty.

“The federal government may come out to insist on no-work-no-pay. They may try to threaten us with this directive from tomorrow; they can do that but they should remember that anyone that has not done his work first should also be punished.

“The relevant government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that are yet to carry out their duties in ensuring that these issues are addressed should be held accountable, because this strike will not happen if they did their jobs.

“Some members of the association are being paid N5,000 as hazard allowance when individuals in the Upper and Lower chambers of the National Assembly are receiving between N1.2 million to N3 million or more for hardship allowance.

“We need to get our priorities right. We lost 19 residents to COVID-19 and as it stands, their families are yet to receive any death benefits.

“We cannot ignore the fact that the doctors that died in the line of duty during the COVID-19 pandemic have families and children that attend schools  need to feed and survive,” he said.

Okhuaihesuyi stated that although the association was aware of the difficulty the absence of doctors in hospitals would pose to patient care, the strike is necessary to ensure doctors are no longer denied their dues to enable them to function optimally.

“Our demands are not new to the government.

“The salary structure of doctors needs to be improved because there is non-payment of salaries to many health workers in some states and also an irregular salary structure in others. Some health workers receive incomplete salaries.

“For example, doctors in Imo state have not received their salaries for about eight months and there is non-salary payment for doctors at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital for 19 months.

“There is non-payment of salary for doctors at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Ekiti for over one year.

“Doctors need to be captured into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) to streamline the salary structure, ensure conformity and consistency in payment,” said the NARD president.

Okhuaihesuyi also urged the federal government to address the issues raised by the association to prevent further strikes leading to lack of access to healthcare by the public.

“Resident doctors in the FCT have responded to the national call to commence an indefinite strike and they began the strike at 8 a.m Aug. 2, 2021. In the FCT alone, there are about 15,000 resident doctors.

“Resident doctors constitute the highest number of doctors in teaching hospitals in Nigeria, so invariably it is mostly us who are at the first point when patients present at the hospital.

“Commencing a strike means that healthcare delivery will be largely affected in hospitals across the country,” he asserted.