Patients and their relatives have been left stranded following the nationwide indefinite strike embarked upon by the National Association of Resident Doctors.
Our Correspondent who visited the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, observed that medical activities in the hospital have been partially paralysed.
Some of the places visited are the maternity, male surgery ward, gynaecology, male medical ward popularly known as”Sani Sami”, paediatric ward, among others.
Some patients who are still on admission lamented that the strike has affected them negatively as doctors are yet to attend to them, while some said nurses are attending to them.
Our Correspondent learnt that some patients were discharged as a result of the development to either go home or go to other hospitals where they will get medical attention.
Inside the “Sani Sami” ward, most of the rooms were under lock and key with no patients. Similarly, in many wards visited, most of the beds were seen empty with few patients still on admission. Upon inquiry, a nurse who refused to give her name said that “most of the patients were discharged this morning as a result of the strike.”
A relative of a patient still on admission in the hospital, Maryam Ibrahim, said her daughter had been operated upon, adding that they woke up today (Monday) only to be told that Resident Doctors had embarked on an indefinite strike.
She said, “This indefinite strike by the doctors, may Allah cause its end because it is not a good development. My daughter underwent surgery last week Friday and this morning we woke up to hear of the doctors’ indefinite strike.
“They were supposed to check on my daughter this morning but we didn’t see them. Some of them came but passed us without attending to us. Please, we beg them, they should help us and attend to our relatives.
“The doctors were supposed to come and check us so that we can know if we will be discharged or not. It was when they didn’t attend to us that that we inquired and we were told that they had embarked on a strike.
“After the surgery, my daughter lost a lot of blood and she had to be given blood. And the doctor was supposed to come and check her, see her condition and tell us whether the blood given to her is enough or more would be needed. We are here waiting because we don’t know what to do know and we don’t know our fate.”
She lamented that the strike has really affected them and other patients because “just a few hours after this strike began, a lot of patients left the hospital to other hospitals with their relatives, while some are insisting that they want to be discharged also since doctors have gone on strike.
“I call on the government to immediately intervene and I plead with them to meet urgently with the doctors and resolve their differences for the interest of the common man who is always at the receiving end. The two parties should always be patient,” she pleaded.
Another resident of Bauchi metropolis, Inuwa Usman, also said his pregnant wife was taken to the Teaching Hospital in a critical condition last Friday.
He called on the federal government to urgently settle the issues of the Resident Doctors so that the masses will not suffer.
Usman said, “I brought my wife who has been sick since Friday, it is an issue of birth and we have been in the delivery room, and I brought her in critical condition that needs urgent attention from doctors.
“I call on the federal government, since it is a tertiary hospital, to immediately intervene ideally. Doctors are not supposed to be allowed to go on strike because that is a critical sector under national development.
“The government should address the plight of these doctors so that they can go back to their duty posts. This development is not a good and palatable one to Nigerians and to people like us who have patients in the hospital, it is an unfortunate thing that we shouldn’t be experiencing.”
Abubakar Sadiq, another resident of Bauchi, told The PUNCH that his sister had been sick and on admission in the hospital for about three months.
He said that although her condition had been improving, “long before now, we’ve been insisting that they discharge us but they kept telling us to wait so that they will continue examining her.
“Now, they just discharged us and it is as a result of the Resident Doctors’ strike. They came this morning and said we should go home because we have been discharged.”
Sadiq condemned the strike saying that the government ought not to have allowed the doctors to go on strike.
He said, “Before we were discharged, there were some that died this morning and some are in critical condition now and no one knows if they will survive or not.
“And we are told that these doctors are the experts and if the experts have gone on strike, where will they go to? The patients and their relatives are in tension because they don’t know their fate and that of their loved ones.
Speaking with The PUNCH, the President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Chapter, Dr. Nur Algazali, said the strike was regrettable but necessary.
He said that over 150 Resident Doctors at the ATBU Teaching Hospital have joined the indefinite strike which is to press home their demands.
“All we want is for the federal government to take care of those who take care and offer medical services to the people.
“We have bills to pay, like school fees of our children, we have to feed our families, and a whole lot of issues, we need better welfare and working environment.
“How can you work when your salary hasn’t been paid for some months and you have worked?
“We appeal to the people to understand that we are not doing this to cause pain to them or their loved ones but we want a better working condition so that we can care for them effectively and adequately,” he said.
