Posted by By Eromosele Ebhomele & Adetutu Audu on
Hopelessness on the part of medically unfit persons in Lagos state, has become evident as the strike action by the state's resident doctors enters its second day.
Hopelessness on the part of medically unfit persons in Lagos state, has become evident as the strike action by the state's resident doctors enters its second day.
A visit by P.M.News correspondents to some of the state-owned hospitals, this morning, showed most of the patients in helpless conditions, as some of them remained unattended while their family members only watched them.
A meeting between the state government officials and the striking doctors was ongoing to resolve the trade dispute, at press time. Doctors in the state-owned health facilities, yesterday, embarked on an industrial action to press home some of their demands.
The doctors, under the aegis of the Medical Guild, had accused the state government of not providing life-saving facilities to ease their jobs, stressing that this often posed problems between patients and doctors.
According to the Chairman of the Medical Guild, Dr. Ibrahim Olaifa, 'If you take the ambulance service for example, most of the victims of severe accident cases rescued by the mobile ambulances usually die in our hospitals because basic life-saving equipment are not available.'
When P.M.News visited the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, some doctors were seen working, but the hospital, which was usually flooded, had only few patients being attended to. Others had been withdrawn by their families and taken to private clinics in the wake of the strike. The emergency unit of the hospital almost had no patients.
Speaking with P.M.News at the hospital premises, the Lagos branch chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association, Dr. Babafemi Thomas, accused the Medical Guild of not following the right path in embarking on the strike. According to him, the strike action is more political than the fight for doctors' welfare.
Dr. Thomas noted that the state government was exceptional in its developmental agenda, adding that some of the doctors who took part in the industrial action were misinformed.
'We cannot complain of insincerity on the part of the government, especially as we are in constant negotiation with the government,' he said, while noting that there may be sanctions on those who masterminded the action.
'We won't be talking of sanctions on the part of the doctors who have been misinformed, but the political elements.' Meanwhile, the chairman of the state Medical Guild, Dr. Ibrahim Olaifa, when contacted on phone, said the consultants seen by P.M.News on duty were not supposed to be there, claiming that their action had political undertone since the state governor was expected at the hospital today, to commission the BT Health and Diagnostic complex.