The many controversies of LUTH
The 55 year-old Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, Lagos has been enmeshed in controversies recently with patients, staff and management trading blames. While the hospital feels it has recorded a giant stride by consistently opening its doors to patients, students, staff, consultants and other stakeholders for nine consecutive months without any disruption of […]
The 55 year-old Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, Lagos has been enmeshed in controversies recently with patients, staff and management trading blames.
While the hospital feels it has recorded a giant stride by consistently opening its doors to patients, students, staff, consultants and other stakeholders for nine consecutive months without any disruption of services, a civil society organization paints a different picture.
Jude Nwangwu, an electronic spare parts dealer said he had an unpleasant experience when he accompanied his pregnant wife to the hospital a few weeks back.
“We went for an ultrasound test but ended up queuing and waiting for several hours. There were so many other patients waiting too because they said only one ultra- sound machine was working at that time,” he said.
A pregnant woman who this reporter met waiting for the ultra-sound test lamented that she had to come to the hospital repeatedly for three days without being attended to, adding that the excuse given had ranged from one to the other.
This reporter also visited the ante-natal section of the hospital and observed many of the pregnant women waiting to be attended to. They complained that some of the nurses who attend to them before they meet the doctors, were often rude, and that some doctors end consultations for the day abruptly.
“The doctors will say they are tired, they will tell you they are leaving even with many pregnant women still waiting to be attended to,” they said.
According to Mrs Bimbo Alawode, a mother of three who was among those waiting to see a doctor at the antenatal unit, when doctors leave in that manner, women now leave their homes very early in order to be attended to before the doctors get tired.
A civil society organization, the Joint Action Front (JAF) recently led some of its members on a protest at LUTH. A week before the protest, the group had organized a press conference and its Chairperson, Dr Dipo Fashina and Secretary, Comrade Abiodun Aremu to decry the happenings at the teaching hospital.
The union said despite the fact that it was established as a public institution to save lives and improve healthcare delivery. The reasons are: the dialysis center was shut for over a year and was just re-opened with only one functional dialysis machine, when a teaching hospital such as LUTH should ideally have at least twenty (20).
“There is only one functional ultra-sound machine in LUTH instead of at least 10. It is the only machine available for babies, pregnant women, HIV patients, accident victims, adults, among others, thereby putting patients and health workers in a permanent state of chaos, desperation and conflicts on who uses the machine at any point in time. There is only one functional ECG Machine, when there should be at least one in every ward and service areas. This machine is used to diagnose heart diseases. The use of the machine is critical for heart attacks and other emergencies. Only one manual defibrillator exists on Display in LUTH, when there should be at least one (automatic defibrillator) in every ward. It is used to revive dying heart (cardiac arrest).”
The group also accused the present management of LUTH of victimization of workers, among others, and also demanded that moves to privatize and commercialise public facilities in LUTH should be halted.
They called for adequate funding and democratic management of the health sector, and also the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of some staff laid off or suspended by the hospital.
But in an eight-page response signed by Dr. Olufemi Fasanmade, the LUTH Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, and obtained by Daily Trust, the teaching hospital’s management faulted all of the positions raised against it by JAF.
“Under different guises, several variations of the same puerile song have been rendered from 2015 till date by the following groups: Save LUTH Coalition (SALCO), April 2017, Joint Action Front (JAF) April 2017, Committee of Medical Professionals, May 2016, Campaign for Transparency and Accountability in Public Office (CATAP) January 2016, The Concerned Group August 2015,” the statement read in part.
“While the names of these five groups are different, they appear to have some things in common: they are all unregistered, they all use fake and untraceable addresses, their advertorials and press statements are centred around two themes: there will be chaos in LUTH and Prof Chris Bode, the Chief Medical Director, must be removed.”
The management urged members of the public to disregard whatever allegation being leveled against it by the affected staff members or unions.
The LUTH management said workers of all cadre in LUTH were positively contributing their quota towards repositioning the hospital as the place to visit when anybody needs medical care. “Our goal is to reposition the hospital and reverse medical tourism. Things have improved and we are rising to the challenges of growth as we render uninterrupted service to the public. LUTH is now working and we are proud to say so. We refuse to be intimidated by a small band of maladjusted persons who get paid to serve,” they said.
Dr. Olufemi Fasanmade, the LUTH Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee stated in a statement said that in 2016, the No-Work-No-Pay law was firmly applied and all staff of the hospital that participated in strike actions suffered monetary losses from salaries deducted for work not done, adding that the result since then was an upsurge in work output, and increase in number of patients turnout, admissions, surgeries and deliveries.
He said: “These facts are verifiable. LUTH has worked continuously for the 8th month running, since the last strike in July and August, 2016. This is the first time we have recorded such prolonged service continuity in more than six years. Indeed, between 2014 and 2016, staff at the teaching hospital down-tool for a record of 14 months, including eight months in 2014, five months in 2015 and two months in 2016. We now have over 500 patients’ currently on admission and more importantly, no group has the penchant for strike actions any longer.”
He said after wielding the big stick, no group had the penchant for strike actions any longer saying that the 470-strong memberships of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) and the 700 nurses of the hospital have disavowed strike actions because of the fear of losing their pay. “For example, the ARD has called their members out five times since October 2016 on one frivolous reason or other but the members refused to go on strike since they understand there will be no pay for work not done”, he said.
But while the hospital management is thumping its chest on the use of “no work, no pay” as an effective horsewhip of whipping its staff into line, multiple sources within the teaching hospital confided in Daily Trust that it is a matter of time for them to protest ‘injustices’ being meted out to them.
“Let no one celebrate the No-Work-No-Pay policy. That we decided to lay low for now does not mean we have been crushed and subsumed. Since the management has decided to be smart by half, we are also re-strategising and it is a matter of time they will see us demand for our rights at a scale no one can actually prevent,” a senior doctor at the teaching hospital, who does not like his name mentioned said.
The doctor said that as long as issues such as the non payment of outstanding salaries and allowances of doctors and nurses are still unresolved, the LUTH management should consider itself sitting on a keg of gun powder that can be triggered at the slightest provocation.