Strike bites harder at FCT hospitals
The ongoing seven-day warning strike by doctors, which started on Monday, continues to paralyse activities at general hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA). Our reporter, who visited Kubwa General Hospital yesterday, discovered that only one consultant doctor, who is not part of the strike, had been attending to a few selected patients who […]
Wards at the Maitama District Hospital deserted as the Association of Resident Doctors in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) embarked on a seven-day warning strike yesterday Photo: Onyekachukwu Obi
The ongoing seven-day warning strike by doctors, which started on Monday, continues to paralyse activities at general hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).
Our reporter, who visited Kubwa General Hospital yesterday, discovered that only one consultant doctor, who is not part of the strike, had been attending to a few selected patients who made it onto his list.
Many other patients were seen leaving the facility unattended to.
One patient, Linus Obi, who said he had arrived at the hospital at 7 am, was still waiting for his turn at some minutes after 2 pm yesterday. He said many people have left the hospital disappointed because they couldn’t make it onto the list of patients the single doctor could attend to. Abuja Metro observed that the situation was slightly different at the emergency section of the hospital, where nurses were seen attending to injured persons, and a single doctor provided services to a few patients with urgent needs.
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At Bwari General Hospital, an health officer told Abuja Metro that nurses would continue to manage cases in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department and attend to patients with urgent needs, such as those in the labor room.
However, he hinted that there is a possibility that nurses, who are not currently on strike, could join the protest at any moment.
He noted that the unfulfilled promises made to the doctors were also made to the nurses.
He added, “Unless our union leaders have sold us out and collected bribes, otherwise, we are supposed to be part of this present struggle,” he insisted.
There are similar reports from Wuse, Asokoro and Maitama district hospitals, where patients were seen leaving without being attended to.