WorldStage Newsonline— The ongoing strike action called up by the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) has paralysed medical activities at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
JOHESU officials went round the departments to enforce the strike. It was a total strike as the enforcement team chased out health workers from their offices.
Mrs Ronke Bello, the Chairman, National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), UCH branch, said that the strike was “a total and indefinite one”.
According to her, no department of the hospital is being spared as the monitoring team will go round daily to ensure compliance.
She condemned the action of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), which at a recent press briefing dissociated itself from the JOHESU strike.
“The NMA has been gripped by the fear of the unknown. I have no reaction to their utterances. In the first instance, our request is directed to our employers not to NMA.
“So why are they struggling that others should not have their needs met?
“It is a regrettable thing that this strike is a total one. We care about the lives of patients, but stakeholders and the public should appeal to government to do the needful,” she said.
Similarly, the Chairman, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Mr Olagokun Taiwo, said doctors had been in a “silent war of superiority” with other health workers.
“Why are they contending with us? Whether they can run hospitals without us we will know. Why are they discharging patients? They should run the hospitals alone now that we have stepped aside by this strike.
“We have sympathy for the patients but there is nothing we can do. We have to embark on this strike and the government should do what is necessary,” she said.
In the West 1 Ward, Accident and Emergency Unit, Ophthalmology Ward, Staff Out-patient Unit (SOP) and the Oncology Unit, patients were seen packing their belongings to go home.
However, at the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Unit, normal clinical activities were still going on.
Also the major entrances to the UCH were barricaded with logs of wood as vehicular movement in and out of the hospital was paralysed.
Staff members were forced to park their cars outside along the main road and trek to their offices.
However, the ongoing West African College of Surgeon examination was not affected by the strike.
One of the discharged patients, Alhaji Mumun Ayepe, 67,who suffers from glaucoma, appealed to the Federal Government to intervene without further delay and meet the demands of the striking health workers.
Commenting on the situation, Prof. Temitope Alonge, the Chief Medical Director of UCH said that management had taken proactive steps to manage the strike since JOHESU issued the notice.
“Management has met with heads of the unions and solicited their cooperation to handle emergencies.
“Those patients who are well enough are already being discharged while those whose conditions are worse will be monitored by doctors.
“A private security outfit has been engaged to man the gates since hospital security outfit is also part of the striking union of health workers.
“The strike is a national one; we can only do our best to manage the situations on ground,” Alonge said(NAN)
