NARD strike: When two elephants fight…

In this report, KAZEEM BIRIOWO and ISAAC SHOBAYO looks at the impact of the nationwide strike embarked upon by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) amidst battling with other health challenges.

The National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD) last Monday commenced a nationwide strike after the expiration of a 113-day ultimatum it issued to the federal government.

The communiqué issued on July 31st, signed by the National President of the association, Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi;  Secretary General, Dr. Jerry Isogun and Publicity/Social Secretary, Dr. Dotun Osikoya, stated that “after critical appraisal of the performance of both Federal and State Governments on all the issues affecting the welfare of our members and the insincerity of Government in implementing the memorandum of action after One Hundred and Thirteen (113) days, the NEC unanimously resolved by vote to resume the total and indefinite strike action from 08.00hrs Monday 2nd August, 2021.

“The NEC in particular demanded the immediate withdrawal of the circular removing House Officers from the scheme of service.

“Finally, the NEC stated unequivocally especially to the members of the public that the NARD is committed to the smooth running of the health sector; however, can only do so when our welfare is given the desired attention.”

In view of the strike action, major teaching hospitals and Federal Medical Centres across the country have been deserted by patients. From UCH, Ibadan to Federal Medical Centre, Azare in Bauchi State patients are seeking help in private hospital and other health facilities despite a possible meeting on Monday with Honorable Tanko Sununu, Chairman, House Committee on Health, whom the NARD chairman said is the only one who has reached out to the body for a solution to the impasse.

“We got a threat from the Minister of Health that we don’t have right to go on strike. Apart from this threat, we have not heard anything from the Ministry of Labour. All we have gotten so far from the presidency is threat. Why is government not facing reality? They prefer to cut corners by trying to force us to call off our strike when they have not done anything on the Memorandum of Action they have signed,” Dr. Okhuaihesuyi, NARD president said.

 

Patients groan

Meanwhile, many patients are in a dilemma. At the Gwarinpa General Hospital in the Federal Capital Territory, it was discovered that though some doctors, especially consultants, were offering skeletal services, patients who had turned up in their numbers were asked to go back home in order to contain the number of patients that could be attended to.

Further investigations revealed that the hospital was only able to render skeletal services at the Accident and Emergency department of the health facility. Few of the patients that were attended to, were forced to register under emergency. Mr. Sunday Bawa who came from Kado, a satellite town in the FCT, said he had come to the hospital on appointment.

“It is so sad that despite the current economic hardship there was no prior information or text message from the hospital to inform us that doctors were on strike,” he lamented.

The situation was the same in most government-owned hospitals, as patients were left unattended to. Only a few consultants and some management health workers were seen attending to patients.

Another patient who identified herself as Mrs. Adelanwa Adesewa said she was told to come back later since there was no consultant to attend to her.

“I am pregnant and I need the services of a gynaecologist. One of the nurses told me to wait a little as the consultant will arrive soon to attend to me,” Mrs Adesewa said.

 

Seeking help elsewhere

Naturally, patients are already seeking medical help at private hospitals just as it is in Zamfara State. Sunday Tribune gathered that most of the patients in question are those with illnesses that require urgent attention.

A patient, Hussaina Attahiru, who spoke to Sunday Tribune, appealed to the Federal Government to come to a round table with resident doctors and resolve the issue. She lamented that most patients have either relocated to private hospitals or gone back to their homes, as they were not being attended to.

Hussaina lamented that she was admitted at Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, where she had spent about two weeks on admission, only for the doctors to begin a strike action adding that “We had no option than to leave the hospital and seek help elsewhere.”

One of the doctors at FMC Gusau noted that the strike was not meant to hurt the ordinary Nigerian but to call the attention of the Federal government to the plights of health workers in the country.

Speaking to Sunday Tribune in Gusau the state Capital, most of the interviewed doctors said the only way to call off the strike is the immediate payment of salaries of some of their colleagues and improve on their welfare, among other measures.

The story is not different in Jos, Plateau State, where doctors are rendering skeletal services at the University of Jos Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and some government-owned hospitals.

Sunday Tribune findings in JUTH and Plateau State Specialist Hospital revealed that few consultants, Pharmacists and other health workers were the ones on duty while some patients have started moving out for better attention in private hospitals. At the University of Jos Teaching Hospital, consultants and nurses were seen attending to patients.

A staff of the hospital who spoke with the Sunday Tribune on condition of anonymity said the hospital management is contemplating stopping further admission of new patients. He further revealed that the work is gradually taking its toll on those on ground, while appealing to the federal government to accent to the demands of the Resident Doctors so that normalcy could return to the teaching hospitals across the country.

“It is not fair that our doctors can decide to go on strike almost all the time without considering the health status of patients. I hope that the government will find a way to resolve this strike in the health sector for the sake of patients,” a patient said.

The Publicity Secretary of Nigeria Medical Association, Plateau State chapter, Dr Longwap Abdul, who is also of the Department of Chemical Pathology, JUTH, described the resident doctors as the engine room of any teaching hospital, adding that their services are crucial to the survival of hospitals.

“They are the engine room; the consultants are few to fully cope with the work on ground while there are also services the nurses and other health workers may not be able to perform. So government needs to address the lingering issues once and for all; the matter has lingered for too long,” he said.

At the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, a patient and serving corps member, Olabisi Oluwatoyin, said: “New patients are no longer getting admission into this hospital but are being referred to nearby hospitals with fewer facilities and less competence. We hope the Federal Government grants the striking doctors their requests on time because it’s getting tougher every day.”

It was however gathered from sources in the hospital that some patients are seeing their doctors through telemedicine as some others enjoy services of their medical consultants.

In Bauchi State Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi and the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Azare have shut down due to the strike action.

Many patients, some in critical condition are in a dilemma and had to seek help at the Bauchi State Specialists Hospital, Bauchi where doctors are not on strike but the hospital is already overwhelmed with patients coming from the other hospitals.

Amos Ben, whose wife was in critical condition as the strike began said: “I brought my wife who has been in labour since Friday, and we have been in the delivery room and she, in critical condition that needs urgent attention from doctors.”

The Chief Medical Director (CMD), of Bauchi State Specialist Hospital, Dr Yau Hameed, lamented that the hospital is being overstretched by the number of patients pouring in on a daily basis moving from ATBUTH and FMC, Azare while Consultants and non- NARD members have been mobilized to fill in the vacuum created by the strike action.

UCH’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Toye Akinrinola, speaking with Sunday Tribune said despite the resident doctors strike, all the hospital’s emergency outlets, including the accident and emergency unit, intensive care unit, and staff clinic are open. He also stated that in all the clinics, consultants are available and attending to clinics.

“We are coping with the situation, we are doing are best. The patient load has definitely fallen below the normal rate, but we are not doing badly also because like I said the consultants got committed to it and in extremely emergency cases, they are ready for it.

President, Association of Resident Doctors, UCH, Dr Z. Temitope Hussein said some of the demands were over 10 years old and despite a memorandum of understanding signed with the Federal government over 118 days ago, none has been honoured.

He stated that the claim that the issues were supposed to be resolved by state government was not true. According to him, NARD, being a national board, only included issues affecting its members at the state level such as domestication of the Medical Residency Training Fund and payment of doctor’s salaries owed by Ekiti, Ondo, Imo and Abia states as well as Lagos state removal of house officers from the scheme of service.

Dr Hussein said the Minister’s instructions that they go back to work immediately will only be complied with if outstanding salaries of doctors are paid, all members are paid on the IPPIS salary platform and the Medical Residency Training Fund domesticated.

He declared that the importance of health should be a reason the government should not renege on agreement with doctors.

As the NARD and both the federal ministries of health and labour enter into another round of altercation what is clear is that when  the elephants fight it is the grass that suffers, in this case the common man who is ill or in serious sickness but could not save himself.

 

• Additional stories by Attahiru Ahmed, Biola Azeez, Olamilekan Lawal, Subair Mohammed and Ishola Michael.

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