Awka — THE on-going doctors' strike action in Anambra State has forced patients out of government-owned hospitals with private health institutions and chemist shops becoming the beneficiaries, Vanguard investigations showed at the weekend.

Many private hospitals visited have been fully stretched, while many chemist operators have suddenly become consultants as patients besiege them.

Although consultants in the employ of the state government did not join the strike, it was discovered during visits to various hospitals in the state that most of the hospitals had virtually been abandoned.

It was found out that patients patronize private hospitals which most of them are incidentally owned by the same striking doctors. Nurses and other health workers in public hospitals no longer have much to do as they stay all day without patients to attend to.

The doctors in the state are protesting that they are the least paid public service doctors in the country. In addition, they saying that apart from call duty and hazard allowances, no other allowances were paid to them. They are also complaining that many years after 22 percent salary increase was approved for doctors nationwide, Anambra State was yet to implement it.

According to the doctors, the most worrisome aspect of it was that the commissioner for health who is their colleague has not presented their matter properly to the governor and demanded that he should be sacked because a lot of things were going wrong in the health sector in the state.

For instance, they said that the state civil service rule provided clearly that a contract staff should be a step lower than he was before he was engaged and not be head of any establishment, regretting that the situation was different in the case of the medical practice in Anambra State, particularly at the Onitsha General Hospital.

But the commissioner for health, Prof Amobi Ilika said weekend that the doctors should not forget how much they were earning before the present administration came into office.