The National Association of Resident Doctors, on Friday, insisted that it would continue the ongoing nationwide strike until the Federal Government implements the terms of their agreement, including the payment of salary arrears and indemnity for their colleagues who died from COVID-19.
The resident doctors’ strike
entered its second day on Friday.
The ARD President, University
of Benin Teaching Hospital, Dr Ifeanyin Ofuani, said patients were not being
attended to because the strike was total.
Ofuani told the News
Agency of Nigeria that, while no resident doctor would attend to any
patient, whether emergency or otherwise, consultants were however on the ground
to attend to emergency patients.
When reminded of a claim by
the Federal Government that it had reached an agreement with the association,
Ofuani refuted the claim, saying, “We have not reached any agreement with the
Federal Government.
“They gave us another
memorandum of understanding or action, whatever they call it, to sign and we
are tired of that. We have been signing that since 2014 and up till today, they
have not honoured any of the memoranda. We want action; we don’t want memoranda
anymore.”
In Jalingo, Taraba State, the
Federal Medical Centre and the State Specialist Hospital offered skeletal services.
One of our correspondents observed that only emergency cases were being
attended to at the State Specialist Hospital.
The ARD President in the
hospital, Dr Gabriel Ahmed, told Saturday PUNCH, “We are complying
with the strike and until we have a contrary directive from the national
(leadership), we can’t do otherwise.”
At the FMC Jalingo, the ARD
President, Dr Divine Njadze, told one of our correspondents in a telephone
interview that doctors were complying with the strike, saying, “Only those on
Consolidated Medical Salary Structure 6 and above as well as medical
consultants and chief medical officers are offering skeletal services at the
hospital.
“For us on CONMESS 5 and
below, we are complying with the strike and until we hear from the national body,
the strike will persist.”
Resident doctors in Katsina
State also joined their colleagues in the nationwide strike, as one of our
correspondents observed at the FMC and General hospital, Katsina.
The ARD President, Federal
Teaching Hospital, Gombe, Dr Daniel Apollos, described the situation as
unfortunate and urged the Federal Government to do the right thing.
The ARD Chairman, Obafemi
Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife branch, Dr Simeon Kusoro,
told Saturday PUNCH that total compliance was recorded in the
hospital, adding that the hospital was “almost empty.”
The ARD President in Cross
River, Dr Godwin Udoh, told Saturday PUNCH the strike was
“total and indefinite.” Consultants, however, continued to attend to patients
at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital.
The resident doctors at the
University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State also complied fully with the
directive, saying consultant physicians were still at work attending to
critical cases.
The Public Relations Officer,
UCH, Mr Toye Akinrinlola, said, “All our emergency areas – accident and
emergency, intensive care unit, children emergency and antenatal – are all
working.
“The consultants, nurses,
medical laboratory experts, pharmacists and other categories of medical
personnel are at their duty posts. The management has been proactive.”
The Nasarawa State chapter of the association also joined the nationwide strike declared by its national body, according to its President, Dr Moses Joshua.
In Kaduna, activities at the
Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria; Federal Neuropsychiatric
Hospital, National Eye Centre, National Ear Care Centre were paralysed as a
result of the strike.
According to the President of
NARD at the National Ear Care Centre, Dr Magaji Auwal, “the hospital is on an
indefinite strike as directed by the association.”
But resident doctors on the
state government’s payroll were not affected as they were seen carrying out
their normal activities unhindered.
The ARD Chairman, Kaduna
State, Dr Umar Ikara, told one of our correspondents that its members declined
to join the strike, saying their challenges were different from those of the
national level of NARD.
Ikara said, “We held (a)
meeting with our congress members and they were sceptical about joining the
national strike, so we have reported the decision of our congress to the
national body. Our members are not on strike.”
The University of Uyo Teaching
hospital, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State is running emergency services only following the
nationwide strike by resident doctors in Nigeria
Patients
scramble for private hospitals
The son of a patient at the
Accident and Emergency Unit in UBTH, Mr Charles Benjamin, lamented the hardship
on his father occasioned by the strike.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged those who received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Astrazeneca vaccine, to take second dose for stronger immunity against the virus.
Mrs Elizabeth Onitolo, UNICEF Communication for Development (C4D) Specialists, made the call in Yola on Wednesday at a three-day media dialogue on Immunisation, Post-polio Certification and COVID-19 Vaccination.
The programme was organised by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in collaboration with UNICEF.
Onitolo urged those who were vaccinated to also observe the protocols to safeguard other people from the virus.
She said that there was need for people to get vaccinated and continue to abide by the protocols to curtail the spread of the virus.
Also, Mrs Lilian Okeke, Team Lead, African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) in Adamawa, said the vaccine was provided to save lives and not to harm anyone.
“Our concern is to save lives, you need to take those preventive measures to save your live and others,“ Okeke said.
She advised pregnant women to consult their doctors for medical advice before receiving such vaccine.
Acting Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Territory Primary Healthcare Board (FPHB), Dr. Nda-Eyo Iwot, has announced that over 40,000 persons, living in the FCT have received their first shots of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Iwot who disclosed this to journalists while monitoring the vaccination of FCT lawmakers, said the figure is part of the one million doses so far inoculated nationwide.
While speaking on the safety of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the Secretary urged the residents to ignore conspiracy theories and fake news being pushed on social media, adding that no known adverse effect of the vaccine has been recorded.
He further explained that two of the five cases being spread around are not directly linked to the vaccine.
He also commended the law makers for publicly taking the vaccine.