Patients who visited public hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were turned back on Thursday as the doctors’ ongoing strike enters its third day.
Abuja Metro reports that doctors in Abuja had embarked on a three-day warning strike that started on Wednesday over seven months unpaid salaries of their members employed in 2023.
Our reporter, who went round some hospitals, saw how other health workers were managing the situation to avoid total collapse.
A number of patients were reportedly turned back on arrival, while those with emergency cases were being attended to before they were referred to either private health centres under the federal government.
One of the health workers, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, lamented that the services have been slow since the beginning of the action that is billed to last until Saturday.
He said before the strike, each doctor attended to between 60 and 70 patients on a daily basis, while consultants that were not part of the exercise, attended to between five and 10 patients with special cases.
“But now, when they are needed critically, none of them is available, it’s only nurses and locum doctors on duty that are intervening,’’ he added.
A visiting patient seen moving with the support of crutches, Sylvester Ajayi, at Kubwa General Hospital, said he felt bad to have visited the facility during the strike.
The situation is almost the same at other hospitals visited or contacted by our reporter, with the exception of the General Hospital in Bwari where an official on duty sent the following messages through WhatsApp, “In our hospital, we’re working, clinical activities are going on especially, the emergency cases done by the consultants. ‘’And you know nurses are not on strike. Most of the work is being managed by them.’’