By Folasade Akpan
As the industrial strike embarked upon by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) enters third day, there was fewer patients than usual at the National Hospital, Abuja (NHA) on Friday.
A visit to the hospital by a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent found that it is still grappling with the new reality and trying to manage the situation.
The parking lots were unusually scanty, with few patients in the General Out Patient Department (GOPD), and almost empty corridors and benches scattered all around the hospital following doctors strike which started on Wednesday.
Some of the patients said they came to see a consultant for an undisclosed ailment but had to book for a later date.
Mr Pius Danladi, a patient who said it was his first time of coming to the hospital, said he was not sure he was going to be attended to as the doctor had already indicated the number of patients he would see for the day.
The Spokesperson of the hospital, Mr Tayo Haastrup, said that though members of ARD in the hospital complied with the directive of the national body, the hospital did not close shop.
He said that the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Raji Mahmoud, had called a meeting of all the consultants and Heads of Departments to ensure that the situation was handled well.
According to him, the consultants, house officers and some doctors on National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) are not on strike.
“So, other parts of the hospital are working; we are still running our services for our patients that come to the hospital, our clinics are running, because our consultants are there.”
He, however, said that because the resident doctors formed the bulk of doctors in the hospital, there would definitely be a gap in service delivery.
He added that the consultants and the house officers would be overwhelmed with work.
Haastrup, however, appealed to the striking doctors to quickly return to work to save lives.
“We are appealing to the doctors to return to work because patients will be forced to go to private hospitals, yet there are some who might not be able to afford to pay bills in private hospitals.”
The Director, Public Health, Ministry of Health, Dr Alex Okoh, while responding to newsmen on Friday about the update on negotiation between the Federal Government and NARD, said she would need to catch up on it to get the current status.
She said “I know that my colleague was at the National Assembly with the resident doctors until very late last night, so I will need to catch up with her to find out what the current status is.
“However, I believe their demands have been heard. There is an ongoing negotiation and we hope that this will be resolved very quickly so that we do not lose any more lives to lack of availability of services attributable to the strike.
“So I believe we are making progress there and hopefully, by the end of today, we should have an update.”
NAN reports that the indefinite strike which begun on Wednesday was as a result of unmet demands by the association.
The major demands of the association are immediate payment of the 2023 MRTF, immediate release of the circular on one-for-one replacement and payment of skipping arrears.
Others are upward review of Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) in line with full salary restoration to the 2014 value of CONMESS and payment of the arrears of consequential adjustment of minimum wage to the omitted doctors.
Also demanded was the reversal of the downgrading of the membership certificate by Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).
The association is also demanding the payment of Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), new hazard allowance, skipping and implementation of corrected CONMESS in State Tertiary Health Institutions and payment of omitted hazard allowance arrears. (NAN
