Doctors in public hospitals in Lagos began an indefinite strike on Monday with the backing of the Democratic Peoples' Alliance (DPA) which wants the state government to dialogue with them.

Medicare is paralysed and lives are at risk.

The Guild of Doctors is protesting the conditions of service as well as demanding the implementation of the Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Scale (CORTIS).

Clinic schedule at the Gbagada General Hospital was empty by 11 a.m. with no patients waiting to see doctors.

Some patients said nurses told them to go home, but about 50 of them waited at the Out-patients Department by 1.30 p.m. to see just the two doctors.

The Accident and Emergency Department was in an unusual lull, even though the Departmental Head, Olugbenga Sanni, was there "to mitigate the pain of any victim brought on emergency."

He said he referred a critically ill patient to the Lagos University Hospital "because it is impossible to manage him here with no doctor to attend to him on admission."

Medical Director, Peter Oriaifo, went round to assure patients of prompt attention by the few consultants attending to the critically ill.

There was a mild drama at the Orile Agege General Hospital, and at Isolo General Hospital where patients protested the strike.

Those who had appointments on Monday screamed and called the doctors unprintable names. Some accused the government of being insensitive to the plight of doctors.

At Orile Agege Hospital, patients threw caution to the wind as they screamed for attention.

Regardless, Guild of Doctors Chairman, Ibrahim Olaifa, said the strike will continue until the government yields to their demands.

He alleged that the government is trying to use divide and rule tactics "rather than face headlong the issues on the ground and meet with the doctors to solve the problems."

He called the bluff of Health Commissioner, Jide Idris, who has threatened to sack any doctor who goes on strike.

"Let him go ahead and do it if that is the best approach to solving a problem as serious as what we have," Olaifa retorted.

Ademola Dada of the Lagos State Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) said Idris is using the rift in the doctors' body to refuse dialogue with the Guild on matters that concern patients' welfare.

He added: "Only Governor Babatunde Fashola can solve the crisis as Idris has failed the doctors and compounded the issues by being another problem on his own."

The DPA threw its weight behind the industrial action and asked the state government to stop grandstanding and instead co-operate with the doctors to improve the health sector.

A statement issued by Lagos DPA Publicity Director, Felix Oboagwina, insisted that "the doctors' demands are legitimate and altruistic, and deserve urgent attention. They are simply saying that Lagos hospitals have become the highway to death, and they are tired of being undertakers."

It described as reckless and undiplomatic the announcement by Idris demanding the resignation of doctors supporting the strike.

"Beyond the government's propaganda and claims in the media, the recent outburst in the health sector has shown that healthcare in Lagos has become dismal and lamentable, so much that it has lost its human face."