By CHIOMA OBINNA
Last Monday, February 7, will remain unforgettable for patients at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja. From the crack of dawn, not a few in-patients and out-patients wept uncontrollably as  they were denied medical attention.

Some of the patients, hospital and government officials at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, when the doctors embarked on another strike, penultimate Friday.

It was a day striking doctors in  the state refused to save lives yet again, as the Medical Guild called out its members for another strike to press home their demands with the Lagos State Government.

Tutu Adebisi’s baby, Olujola, for instance, was on admission in the hospital for a life-saving surgery. It was the third time since August 2010 that the little girl would be rescheduled — no thanks to the series of doctors’ strikes. Tutu openly expressed angst at the actions of the warring state government and the doctors.

Her child, Olujola, a hydrocephalus, is potentially at risk of a ruined future if the third surgery was not done in time.

According to Tutu, the third operation was due since August, but it was not done because of the about four months of strike in 2010.

“After that,  the condition affected her eyes and she could not see. In the first week work resumed, they kept giving me appointment. At a point, I was told the doctor was on leave and given another appointment today. Coming here now, they are on strike again. Where do I go from here?”

Tutu is not alone in this web of incessant doctors’ strikes in Lagos State.  Yusuf Abdulkareem, a retired civil servant from Kwara State, who was wheeled into the doctor’s consulting room, had to be turned back. His son, Kazeem, told Sunday Vanguard his father had a broken hip from a fall.

“He had total hip replacement surgery. He came for a routine medical check-up on Friday,  but was told the doctors are on strike. He was given another appointment. We have to go back home and look for a private hospital,” he lamented.

Another patient was visibly angry. Roland Abayomi Okuneye, also a retired civil servant, lamented that all the drugs prescribed for his eye surgery expired during the 14-week doctors’ strike last year. He has been advised to buy a new set of drugs.

Okuneye is worried he might lose his sight in the event of another strike which could stall his expected surgery, scheduled before the commencement of the strike.

Scores of women who expressed their displeasure over the strike complained bitterly for being turned back and without getting the medical attention they need urgently.

For these and other innumerable lamentations, the aggrieved patients,  mainly the aged, women and children, expressed their displeasure. They descended on government officials led by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris. They urged Idris to compel the government and the doctors to resolve their differences quickly.

Meanwhile, the striking doctors have rejected the olive branch by the government, saying the new salary offer, which is about 90-95 per cent increment, was not in conformity with the controversial Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) as agreed by the Federal Government two years ago.

The doctors’ strike was suspended last year following agreement with the state government to meet their demands after 14 weeks of industrial action. But since the strike resumed on Friday, February 4, it has brought untold hardship and misery to Lagosians. Clinics and wards of the state-owned hospitals are sparsely manned by private doctors.

Hundreds of lives were lost during the last strike. Certainly, more lives are being lost every day as a result of the current strike.
In the last few days, private hospitals have been smiling to the banks, though several have questionable operational abilities. But not everyone can afford their outrageous charges.

Sunday Vanguard visited the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, which, over the last few days has witnessed increased volume of patients because, being a federal institution, the doctors there are not on strike. The beehive in the hospital has doubled. Most wards are filled to the brim with little or no space to admit more patients. No bed space is now a common cliché.

Wheelchairs are being used as beds. Treatment takes place at any available space. An epidemic of hospital infections could be imminent.There are longer waits by patients before being attended to by physicians.

A patient, Chijioke Eleme, said the situation in LUTH  has  increased the hours patients spend there. “I came here since 7a.m. yesterday but as at 5p.m, I was not able to do the tests. I am back here again. I hope it will be better today. I can’t afford the huge bills private hospitals are charging.’’

Currently, I have to bear with the situation; it’s just that I have to wait for long hours and this is frustrating.”

For Bola Ojo, she had to spend the whole of Thursday last week to collect drugs at LUTH.  Others have more bitter experiences to share.  Josiah Egbunam lost his younger sister because the hospital was not able to attend to them in time. “I brought my sister in my own car from a private hospital at Iyana_ Ipaja, Lagos where we paid a  consultancy fee of N20,000. When her health worsened, the doctor referred us to LUTH. She died while we were waiting. The body has been deposited at the LUTH morgue.”

Lagos State commissioner for health  had  announced another new salary structure for the doctors which will furnish a consultant with N700, 015.50 as take home pay every month. A new entrant to the structure  will  get N207, 629.75.

Idris said government had addressed some of the grey areas which the doctors pointed out in the initial improved salary structure for them.

“We are appealing to them to call off the strike. The difference between what they are asking for is just less than N80, 000 or  N50,000. We are even thinking that this is not the end. There are other things government is planning for them. We are  looking into the issue of housing.

“We have already distributed cars to them. The nurses also have issues but they have not called for a strike. This is just an appeal again to them, they should call off the strike to reduce the suffering of   the masses while we continue to negotiate.”
But the Medical Guild said the new pray was unacceptable.

In a chat with Sunday Vanguard, Secretary, Association of Resident Doctors, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH-ARD, Dr. Saheed Babajide, said :”The circular I just collected an hour ago is not in conformity with CONMESS. It is not acceptable to us. CONMESS is not just about salary increase but a uniformity that would encourage Nigerian doctors to work anywhere in Nigeria.

Whether you are in the village or anywhere in the country, as long as you are a doctor, your salary must be in conformity with your contemporaries any where in the country.

“With what they say they will pay, the highest hierarchy of doctors which is the consultants will be paid N700,000 while their contemporaries in the federal service are being paid N801, 000 monthly. It is unacceptable. If they can adjust to N700, 000, we believe they can do it.”

The doctors are also demanding reinstatement of their immediate past chairman, Ibrahim Olaifa, payment of union dues, and removal of over-taxation.