Private Clinics Reap From Doctors’ Strike – Investigation

Private hospitals and clinics across Adamawa State are having a field day following the prolonged strike embarked upon by members of the Nigerian Medical Association.

Several other patients who cannot afford orthodox medical care have turned to traditional medicine and spiritual intervention to seek remedy for their ailments.

Investigations by our correspondentin Yola, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday revealed that many patients who were abandoned by the striking medical doctors at both at the Jimeta Specialist Hospital and the Federal Medical Centre, Yola, are now living at the mercy of nurses/midwives and auxiliary staff at the hospitals.

Most of the doctors who were hitherto indulging in private practice, are now cashing on the current strike to do so in the open.

Patients are only attended to at the out-patient units by the nurses, with little skeletal services rendered at the Accident and Emergency units of the hospitals by medical professors and consultants.

It was gathered that the situation was even worse at the orthopedic and surgical wards as many with complicated cases were left at the mercy of the nurses, auxiliary staff as well as students from the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Yola.

For operators of private hospitals and clinics in the state capital, it is business as usual as most clinics visited by our correspondentshowed that the operators were doing brisk business as many sick people visited them in search of medical attention.

Commenting on the development, the Information Officer, Federal Medical Centre Yola, Adamu Mohammed Dodo, said the centre, was not admitting new in-patients, explaining that there were several empty bed spaces because even those on admission before the strike had been discharged as soon as they recuperate.

He said, “My own fear is that, if the strike persists, drugs of in-patients would be exhausted, and there is no doctor to make another prescription and no doctor to diagnose result of a laboratory test for patients.”

Dodo, therefore, called for the quick resolution of the strike, to enable patients to have access to health care delivery, stressing that “in resolving the strike, other unions should be considered so as not to have another round of strike by another group in the health sector.”

“You see due to skeletal services rendered at the hospital, teeming voters were deprived medical services as promised by government during campaign,” he added.

It was gathered that, those who could not afford the exorbitant bills being charged by private hospitals and clinics now patronize herbal medical practitioners.

A relation of a patient, Habsatu Sani, said, “We don’t have enough resources to go to private clinics, that why we patronise, herbal practitioner for medication.”

She then prayed God that the face up between government and the NMA would be resolved as soon as possible so that normalcy could be restored in public hospitals.

Source:punchng.com