Despite President Bola Tinubu’s directive six days ago to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors NARD’s demand, the indefinite strike embarked upon by NARD on Saturday last week Saturday entered in 10th day today Monday.
The strike has paralysed activates at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, as the Accident and Emergency Unit and the Out-Patient Department in the hospital were deserted.
The doctors down tools on Nov. 1, in response to its national body order after the government’s failed to meet the resident doctors’ demands of a 200 per cent increase in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS).
The doctors also want the full implementation of the new allowances proposed in July 2022, and the immediate recruitment of clinical staff as well as calling for the removal of bureaucratic bottlenecks that delay the replacement of existing doctors, among others.
The UCH ARD President, Dr. Gboyega Ajibola, said the strike has affected the hospital, because it has not been admitting patients and performing surgeries,, but said consultants are working, though the ARD constitutes the backbone of doctors.
“We are not admitting patients because the workforce that will ensure the management plan that is outlined is on strike; clinics are not running efficiently because the number of consultants on the ground to attend to the patients is insufficient.
“It’s a pity because, obviously, surgeries cannot happen because we are the ones who do surgeries; corridors of emergencies, too, are not open because consultants don’t cover the first hand of the emergency department.
“It has also affected the patients and revenue generated by the hospital; the government should please do the needful.
“Our health system is as strong as the hands that sustain it.
“This is not a fight between the Federal Government (FG) and resident doctors; it’s not a fight between the doctors and patients, but one for a health system that is humane, just, fair, and that can provide everything patients need to be adequately cared for.
“We crave for a system that seeks the welfare of the people, caring for the patients as well as the people that we are caring for,” he said.
Ajibola urged all stakeholders to take the struggle as a joint collaborative effort and intervene by calling on the FG to hearken to the doctors’ cry.
