■ ‘I will die if my breast is not cut off in days’ –Cancer patient
■ ‘I’ve taken my mother to herbal home’ –Civil servant
■ My wife will stay at home; I don’t have money for private hospital –Okada rider
Mrs. Helen Olisa, a 56-year-old widow, was diagnosed of cancer of the breast when she noticed a hard lump which has formed at the left part of her breast. Cancer of the breast killed her mother some years ago. When she was diagnosed, her doctor prescribed removal of her two breasts via mastectomy, as preventive treatment to curb the cancer from spreading to other parts of her body. The surgery would cost her N250, 000 at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, Lagos.
Mrs. Olisa was able to garner the sum hurriedly for the operation to save her life. But on Monday, June 31, 2014 at a time she had finalised arrangement for the surgery, her surgeon at LUTH informed her of a looming strike called by the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and that doctors planned to down tools.
On that Tuesday morning, July 1, 2014, medical doctors across the federation made good their threat as they embarked on an indefinite strike, when the government seemed to give no heed to their 24-point demand.
The strike came amid an order of interim injunction issued by the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja, urging health workers across board to desist from embarking on any strike as well as halting the implementation of any agreement earlier reached between the government and members of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) pending the hearing and determination of the case before it.
The 24 demands the NMA sent earlier to the government through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) included discontinuation of the recognition of non-medical doctors as directors and the ascription of consultant title to any other health worker other than a medical doctor within the confines of medicine and surgery.
The demands also range from the appointment of a Surgeon-General, clinical duty and hazard allowances, withdrawal of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) circular on medical laboratory equipment among others.
To many, the strike shows the insensitivity of health workers to the pains of the common man, while to others, it portrays systems failure in the country and the lack of commitment of Nigerian government to serious issues. But for Mrs. Olisa, she interprets this situation from a spiritual dimension. “This strike is not ordinary, it is another scheme of the devil to end my life, but I refuse to die and I have resolved not to cry anymore. I must look up to God now. The devil took my mother through this ailment, now I’m his next target but he is doomed to fail as usual,” she affirmed amid tears.
According to Mrs. Olisa, her next option is to perform the surgery at a private clinic at a cost of N450, 000. “My doctor referred me to some private hospitals that could handle my case but the cost of treatment there is too much for me. I was charged N250, 000 at LUTH but at the private hospitals, the least charge I got was N450, 000 and I can’t just afford it. I have to wait and pray for God to intervene in this face off between the FG and NMA. If I do not cut off my breast in the next one week, I might die,” She told Saturday Sun.
Another patient who spoke about his ordeal is Linus Etim, a glaucoma patient who was receiving treatment, also at LUTH. According to him, he lost his wife in 2010 when doctors were striking over consolidated wages. Four years after, this NMA strike has gone on to open old wounds as he cries that his life now hangs in the balance as he is on the verge of losing his sight if doctors don’t return to pay attention to his condition. “Doctors need to know that whenever they embark on strike, it is the masses who bear the brunt. I don’t have money to pay the bill at private hospitals or to go abroad. Governemnt should please settle whatever differences they have with doctors’ union so that we can come back to continue our treatment”.
In the nation’s capital Abuja, nurses across hospitals struggled to care for patients as doctors abandoned their duty posts on Tuesday, the first day of the nationwide strike. The situation worsened days after with patients leaving public hospitals to seek care elsewhere.
When Saturday Sun visited the Federal Capital Territory (F.C.T) General Hospitals in Wuse and Maitama Districts, it was clear that the strike was fully implemented by doctors with many of them milling around, not minding the presence of patients. A similar scenario played out at the National Hospital, Abuja as there were no doctors to attend to patients.
Pricilla Edoh, one of the distressed patients who showed up for her antenatal clinic appointment at the National Hospital, lamented that the strike was total unlike when consultants attended to patients during the brief strike called by resident doctors earlier in the year.
“We were told to wait. Up till now they didn’t come,” said Edoh who waited for four long hours. “Nobody else can attend to us. During the last strike, the consultants attended to us, and that was okay. But today, no doctor, just the matron and nurses, and what can they do? They can only teach us. The people that need to do the actual checkup are the doctors”, she added.
In Rivers State, the strike has grounded activities at the ever-busy and crowded Rivers State-owned Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH), Port Harcourt.
When Saturday Sun visited the hospital, there was an indication that substantial number of patients has been withdrawn by their relatives, and most of wards were empty. Most offices were also locked.
One Mrs. Blessing Ajibola, who had earlier spoken to Saturday Sun (not in the hospital), said on June 30, she took her five-year-old son, Olanrewaju, who has heart problem to the hospital. But, the doctor she met declined to admit the child, though he noticed that the boy was having heart failure; he told her that they would commence strike at midnight. He referred her to a private hospital. The woman said that when she got there, she could not afford the money for admission card. Now she is helpless over the condition of her son.
Meanwhile, at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Choba, the situation was slightly different as at Thursaday. Though resident doctors joined their colleagues in the strike, patients were seen in the wards and waiting rooms (halls).
In Osun State, patients receiving treatment at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), Ile-Ife had started vacating the hospitals the second day of the strike, just as new patients were not admitted into the hospital.
Survey by Saturday Sun revealed that only nurses at the hospital attending to the few remaining patients, while few doctors who were still working concentrated on patients with high degree of ailments.
A medical officer at the hospital, Mr. Seun Ayobami told Saturday Sun that “we do not admit patient here again. Most of the patients had been hurriedly discharged so as to continue their treatment in private hospitals.”
According to him “the Nurses here only take care of minor cases that we can take care of. We do dressing and other nursing procedures for the few patients that remain here. All the Doctors are absent from work, including the house officers.”
In Ebonyi State, government and public hospitals have been deserted as a result. When this paper visited Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (FETHA), patients who were already admitted in the hospital were seen leaving for private hospitals to continue treatment.
Mr. Damian Ogadu, the only patient at the emergency ward at FETHA2 hospital when our correspondent visited, said that he was waiting for vehicle to convey him to where he was transferred – Mater hospital in Afikpo – for treatment.
Ogadu, 38, from Ngbo in Ohaukwu Local Government Area, lay helplessly at the hospital without doctors attending to him. He had a fatal accident, which affected his hands and legs.
He was brought to the hospital two days before the strike and he was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday but to his greatest shock he was waiting to be taken to theatre for the surgery when he was told that the doctors had gone on strike.
In Nasarawa, activities at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Keffi, Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) Lafia and other government hospitals remain paralyzed. When Saturday Sun visited all the government hospitals and medical centres in the state, it was revealed that patients and their relatives had left for private hospitals in order to receive treatments.
Speaking to our correspondant, one of the patients who were sent packing from the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) Lafia, while lamenting his ordeal as a result of the strike, called on government to find a way to end the strike in the interest of the patients, the state and the country.
The story is the same at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Keffi where patients have already deserted the hospital for the private hospitals in order to receive treatment. Our correspondent who visited the hospital reports that the hospital has became the shadow of itself, as patients and doctors have left the hospital for the private hospitals.
In Uyo, patients in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) decried negligence of doctors in attending to their health problems.
Saturday Sun learnt that a good number of patients brought to the emergency unit of the hospital in the early hours of Wednesday, Thursday and yesterday were turned back or discreetly referred to some private clinics said to be run by the same doctors on Federal Government employ.
It was learnt that patients, who had been slated for surgery within the week, could not be operated upon following the doctors’ industrial actions, just as many have started looking for other alternatives to ameliorate their health problems.
One of the doctors confided in our correspondent that most of the patients have been placed on drugs as palliative, hoping that the strike would be called off.
Further investigations reveal that only registered patients who had been receiving treatment before the strike commenced were given preferential care as doctors still came to attend to them.
Speaking with our correspondent, one of the surgical patients who did not want to disclose her name for fear of being victimised, said that she was billed for operation on Thursday but with the strike no doctor had come to her for examination.
“I am really suffering in pains because I am due for operation but with this ongoing strike I don’t know when the surgery would be done. It is only God that would sustain me here.,” she pleaded with our correspondent.
In Kaduna, it has taken a toll on most patients in government hospitals For Mrs. Deborah Kayode, her first child, a nine-month-old, who is on admission at Gwamna Awan General Hospital, has been left unattended to by doctors for some days, just as she said her baby is dying of high body temperature.
Mrs. Kayode said she would move her baby to a private hospital to save her life, even as the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Samson Dogo Nok said there was no cause for alarm as the management was ready to provide skeletal services to patients.
“My name is Mrs. Deborah Kayode. Since the doctors started their strike, we have not seen them to attend to us again, my baby’s body is very hot, and she is my firstborn; she is just nine months old.
“Doctors only attended to her a day before the strike. My baby needs more blood because she has shortage of blood. And the nurses are not as forthcoming as before the strike, though they are not on strike. My baby has been on admission since last week.
“As it is now I am even thinking of moving to a private hospital to save my baby’s life. Doctors should not allow my baby to die”, she cried.
In Benue, doctors in all government owned hospitals also joined the rest of their colleagues across the country to embark on the indefinite strike as patients continue to lament their ordeal in accessing healthcare services.
Worse hit in the state are the Federal Medical Center (FMC), and the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) which, usually have influx of patients from within and outside the state.
In Kano, checks by Saturday Sun across a few hospitals in the metropolitan area of the state on Thursday indicated that the doctors, ranging from consultants to residents were not in their offices, a result of which no form of medical activity was noticed in most of the hospitals visited.
At the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano,(AKTH) over 90 per cent of the patients on admission have been discharged while out-patients had to cancel their respective appointments because there is no doctor to attend to their cases.
Saturday Sun investigation at the AKTH showed that the over 700-bed hospital, had been virtually deserted. Apart from a handful of health and administrative workers strolling casually or whiling away the time, this ever-busy hospital at the heart of the medical needs of Kano and beyond, was virtually empty.
In Delta State, wards at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Asaba, were virtually empty, as patients have been evacuated to private hospitals.
As at the time Saturday Sun visited the institution, the usually busy General Out-Patient Department was almost empty with a handful of staff who are not doctors discussing the development in hush tones as they clustered around.
Also, the ever-busy ante-natal hall, was devoid of any pregnant woman, as a staff who was later identified as a cleaner, told this reporter that “all the pregnant women were sent away because of the strike.”
As at Thursday, few patients were still milling around the premises, making efforts to clear their bills before relocating elsewhere.
And finally in Imo State health services remain paralyzed as patients from government owned hospitals have been compulsorily discharged by the management of the hospitals.
When Saturday Sun visited the Federal Medical centre in Owerri, it was discovered that patients who were previously on admission for various ailments had been discharged because the medical doctors who were supposed to attend to them had deserted their duty posts in strict adherence to the dictates of their national body.
Even the Accident and Emergency Unit of the hospital, which used to be a beehive of activities, was also deserted as nurses and other non-medical personnel were seen merely chatting.
One of the nurses who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that without the doctors around, there was nothing any of the nurses could do as it was only the doctors who would tell the nurses what to do and that the situation had forced the management to discharge all the patients to enable them to seek alternative medical attention at the private hospitals.
Similarly, Pastor Mike Nwanknwo who had brought a member of his church, involved in an accident, said he was advised to go a private hospital because the doctors in all government owned hospitals are on a strike.
He narrated to Saturday Sun that, in spite of his pleas that the accident victim needed urgent medical attention, they insisted that he took the patient elsewhere, as there were no doctor to attend to him.
In all public hospitals across the nation, the story is the same. It has been one of agony, frustration and hopelessness for patients and their family members.
When the strike will be called off remains in the bowel of time. As at the time of putting this report together, two days ago, it would seem that both sides were sworn to their stance. Will they come down from their high horses and resolve this impasse? That is most desirable, if only for the sake of the sick and infirm.
