Nurses’ strike grounds Kwara hospitals

The strike action embarked upon by the Kwara State chapter of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives in state government-owned hospitals on Monday has continued to take its toll on the health sector in the state. Members of the association embarked on the strike to press home their demands for better welfare, safety […]

The strike action embarked upon by the Kwara State chapter of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives in state government-owned hospitals on Monday has continued to take its toll on the health sector in the state.

Members of the association embarked on the strike to press home their demands for better welfare, safety at the workplace, shortage of personnel in hospitals and disparity in remuneration of nurses at state and local government levels.

The nurses, in their numbers, protested over the issues during the week asking the government to do the needful about their demands.

When City News visited the hospital on Friday, activities were at a standstill as pregnant women and other patients were turned back.

It was also gathered that the situation was the same in other government hospitals in the state. 

A pregnant women, who was affected and later gave birth at one of the private hospitals in Ilorin, lamented the impact of the situation on patients, adding that there was the need for an amicable resolution of the matter.

“I have to go to a private hospital after we were rejected because there were no nurses on the ground when we visited the government hospital. This came at a very exorbitant cost in this economic hardship,” the new mother of one, who simply identified herself as Ummu Dhikrullahi, said.

Although the state government has waded into the issue, the intervention was yet to get the nurses back to work.

Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq had met on Monday night with officials of the association led by the chairman, Comrade Aminu Sheu, where he assured that the issues would be resolved.

Speaking on the outcome of the meeting, Aminu who appreciated the governor, said he was convinced of a positive response soon.

He, therefore, appealed to the members of the association to be patient and return to work while awaiting government action on their grievances.

When contacted, the DG, Kwara State Hospital Management Bureau, Mr Saad Aluko, told our reporter that some of the claims by the striking nurses were not true.

“It is not true that they are receiving amputated salaries. This government is not paying them that. What they are requesting for now is an increase in salary on a different scale which we do not currently have.

“But conversations are ongoing and we are negotiating to arrive at a common ground and the government is responding,’’ he said.

Recall that the association had transmitted the letter of a 7-day warning strike to the authorities to look into their grievances or risk a full-blown strike action in hospitals owned by the state government in the 16 local governments of the state.