As the strike declared by health workers under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) bites harder, the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, have hurriedly discharged patients admitted in the hospitals.
This is because majority of the nurses that should care for them have joined the industrial action.
The development has compelled the Federal Government to appeal to JOHESU to call off the strike.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said that government was working assiduously towards addressing the demands of the health workers.
The development has compelled the Federal Government to appeal to JOHESU to call off the strike.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said that government was working assiduously towards addressing the demands of the health workers.
Investigations revealed that about 90 per cent of patients on admission at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, have so far been discharged.
Also in LUTH, a reliable source told that majority of the over 300 patients admitted in the teaching hospital have been discharged, leaving only 120 patients in the wards, due to non-availability of nurses, majority on strike.
A source at the hospital told our correspondent that after discharging the patients, the LUTH management had to merge some wards, bringing the remaining patients together, as a strategy to manage the situation, the source said.
According to the source, “to make it possible for the top nurses to cope with the huge workload, patients from different wards were merged into the same ward.”
Similarly, going by the strike, which was declared on Wednesday, September 20, most patients who had arrived both LUTH and the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital to seek care yesterday, did not meet their expectations in terms of service provisioning.
Consequently, it was only patients whose case notes were handy with the doctors that were attended to, while those whose registration card could not be retrieved by striking record staff were given new appointment dates.
One of the patients that was given a new appointment date, because her card could not be retrieved, lamented that she came from Okokomaiko. “It is sad that I have to return home without any doctor attending to me. I don’t know how I can cope for the next two weeks as I have run out of medications prescribed for me during my last hospital consultation.”
Similarly,while the hospital pharmacy at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital was under lock and key because of the strike,this development made the patients get their drugs at nearby pharmacy shops.
One of the outpatients, Aghedo Patrica, who was given a new appointment date, reacted, saying: “I am begging government to help end this strike. We are suffering. The cost of the medicine in private pharmacy is too expensive. Buying the medicine from government hospital is cheaper and convenient.”
A nurse at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatrist Hospital hinted that the strike has kept him working harder than normal because he was the only one present to monitor the patients at Wards M4, F4, Adeoye Lambo Ward (drug unit) and Adejoke Orikoya Ward.
Also in LUTH, a reliable source told that majority of the over 300 patients admitted in the teaching hospital have been discharged, leaving only 120 patients in the wards, due to non-availability of nurses, majority on strike.
A source at the hospital told our correspondent that after discharging the patients, the LUTH management had to merge some wards, bringing the remaining patients together, as a strategy to manage the situation, the source said.
According to the source, “to make it possible for the top nurses to cope with the huge workload, patients from different wards were merged into the same ward.”
Similarly, going by the strike, which was declared on Wednesday, September 20, most patients who had arrived both LUTH and the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital to seek care yesterday, did not meet their expectations in terms of service provisioning.
Consequently, it was only patients whose case notes were handy with the doctors that were attended to, while those whose registration card could not be retrieved by striking record staff were given new appointment dates.
One of the patients that was given a new appointment date, because her card could not be retrieved, lamented that she came from Okokomaiko. “It is sad that I have to return home without any doctor attending to me. I don’t know how I can cope for the next two weeks as I have run out of medications prescribed for me during my last hospital consultation.”
Similarly,while the hospital pharmacy at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital was under lock and key because of the strike,this development made the patients get their drugs at nearby pharmacy shops.
One of the outpatients, Aghedo Patrica, who was given a new appointment date, reacted, saying: “I am begging government to help end this strike. We are suffering. The cost of the medicine in private pharmacy is too expensive. Buying the medicine from government hospital is cheaper and convenient.”
A nurse at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatrist Hospital hinted that the strike has kept him working harder than normal because he was the only one present to monitor the patients at Wards M4, F4, Adeoye Lambo Ward (drug unit) and Adejoke Orikoya Ward.
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