IBADAN — Patients are staying away from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, as the strike by resident doctors is taking a toll on the  health institution.

The National Association of Resident Doctors , NARD, had suspended the nationwide strike last week, but doctors at the UCH branch are yet to heed the suspension order.

According to reports, the in-patients, regardless of their condition, had earlier been asked to go home or left of their own volition to patronise private hospitals, as the striking resident doctors failed to report for work.

A visit to the hospital yesterday, showed that the hospital’s emergency wards were also empty.

However, it was gathered that some in-patients, whose conditions were quite critical, were given first aid treatment by the hospital’s nurses before they were discharged.

Reacting to the development, Dr Babatunde Babasanya, the President of the UCH chapter of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), reaffirmed that the association would continue its strike until its demands were met.

The Chief Information Officer of UCH, Mr Toye Akinrinlola, said that the hospital’s management had discussions with the striking doctors, adding, however, that they declined to suspend the strike until their money was paid.

“We appealed to them but they stood their ground. We will continue to talk to them and we hope the strike will be suspended soon,” he said.

NARD has been on strike since Oct. 1 over the non-payment of four months’ salaries of its members, as well as the lack of proper funding of residency training programmes.