Leadership (Abuja)
Adesoji Oyinlola and Taiwo Ogunmola
6 January 2009
Lagos — The strike embarked upon by doctors in the Lagos State General Hospitals, has paralyzed activities in the hospitals, as many patients were stranded and left unattended, yesterday morning.
Doctors, under the aegis of Lagos State Medical Guild, made good their threat by embarking on strike yesterday, to press home their demands. The doctors are demanding for improved welfare package, beefing up of facilities in general hospitals as well as calling for the installation of life saving machines in the state's hospitals. At Orile-Agege General Hospital yesterday, LEADERSHIP observed that there were no doctors to attend to the large number of patients at the hospital.
The patients complained that the strike was affecting them badly and berated the government for allowing the doctors to go on strike. According to Mrs. Aderemi Afolabi, who arrived the hospital at 5:00 am, they were told that doctors were on strike and that they would not attend to them until the strike was called off. "There have been lots of emergency cases brought here today, but they told them to go back because of the strike. I have been here since 5.00a.m. Fashola should urgently intervene in this matter because of the health of people," she lamented. Mrs. Wakilat Olayode, who said she arrived the hospital at 5.00a.m. Also, lamented that she had not been attended to. "They said we should wait for doctors. They came but did not attend to us," she stated. "I came here at about 8.00 a.m., and they said I should take a number which I have done, but they said the doctors are on strike," said a patient, A. A. Idowu. Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Dr. Segun Oshinyimika, told LEADERSHIP that "from my own point of view, we are not on strike. We are not allowed to talk to the press."
At the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, many patients were complaining that they were not being attended to. It was gathered that the doctors in the hospital had gone on strike while the state government used consultants to attend to the people. But the demand outweighed the supply of manpower. The strike was total at the Lagos Mersey Children Hospital, as patients on admission were being asked to go home because there was no doctor to attend to them. The CMD of the hospital was said to be attending to patients in critical condition himself, as there was no doctor to do so. A woman on admission said she was asked to go home because there was no doctor to attend to her. Many people were stranded in the hospital as there were no doctors to attend to them.
Only officers on level 14 and above, in the rank of assistant directors and others, were working. But they were not enough to cope with the number of patients seeking medical attention. Chairman, Medical Guild, Dr. Ibrahim Olaifa, told LEADERSHIP that there was no going back on the strike, adding that it would be total. Olaifa stated that contrary to what the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Jide Idris, said, the guild was never divided, saying it was a ploy to break the ranks of the association. He said the guild met with the commissioner 15 times while he also acknowledged the allegations, stressing that the strike "goes on as planned." Commissioner of Health, Idris, had described the doctors' strike as illegal and unacceptable, saying that any doctor who did not want to work could resign his or her appointment. "The issues raised by the doctors are what we are looking into," he said, while urging doctors who were not part of the strike to report to work, and assured them of adequate security while on duty.
Meanwhile, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) impounded more than 2,000 motorcyles from culprits.Revealing this to LEADERSHIP yesterday morning, in his office, the sector head of operations, Lagos State Command of the FRSC, H.U. Omeje, said the commission would not spare any Okada rider not wearing the helmet.On the compliance of Okada operators with the new directive, Omeje said: "So far, so good. The compliance by the riders has been encouraging. Some of them are finding it difficult to buy the helmet. I was made to understand that the importers cannot meet the huge demand for the helmets. I can tell you that those available are being bought and used by the riders."On the kind of helmets to be used by the riders, Omeje accused some of the riders of using industrial helmet which is not the type approved by the government."We are having cases where people are buying the site helmet as motorcycle crash helmet, but we are not bothered.
By the time we finish monitoring the compliance rate, there will be a lot of approved crash helmets in the market. We can then sieve the chaff from the grain. By the time we have many of the helmets in the market, there will be no excuse for them to use unapproved helmets. We will not accept inferior or unapproved helmets," he explained Umeje said the FRSC, alongside other law enforcement agencies in the state, have made tremendous achievements in ensuring that Okada riders comply with the directive. "We started this campaign since last year. We have given the Okada riders enough time to buy the helmet and start using it.
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