By Sola Ogundipe & Chioma Obinna
LAGOS — Healthcare services at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi-Araba, and other federal health institutions in Lagos are being stretched to breaking point as state-owned hospitals remained shut to patients in the wake of the indefinite and total doctors’ strike called by the Medical Guild.

At the LUTH’s emergency wing, yesterday, it was a beehive of activities as healthcare personnel had their hands full trying to cope with the heavy rush of patients.

Vanguard gathered that patients have continued to flock to the tertiary hospital in droves in attempt to obtain comprehensive level of healthcare typical of a federal tertiary healthcare institution. But only few could be admitted because the wards were full and there were no vacant beds.

Investigations showed that in the last few days, the staff and management have had their hands full as the health institution is daily besieged by a rush of patients, the bulk of who had been displaced from the grounded state hospitals.

Yesterday, a number of patients were observed at the emergency wing of the hospital, frantically seeking to secure admission into the wards. Some of the patients said they were at LUTH for treatment after they were compulsorily discharged from other hospitals including the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja, and General Hospitals in Gbagada, Isolo and Lagos Island.

Several said they had been hanging around the hospital for days in the hope of securing admission, but remarked they had no option other than to go elsewhere when it became apparent there was no hope they would be admitted.

A middle aged man who identified himself as “Pastor” said he was referred from Gbagada General Hospital since last week lamented that he was being forced to leave in disappointment for the third day running. “I’m diabetic. I was referred here from another government hospital, but here they say there is no bed. Why is there no bed? They say everywhere is full. I am going back home now, but I’m coming back tomorrow. I’ll be coming back until a bed is available for me.”

Many patients who had been on admission at the spill-over wing for upwards of one week are yet to be transferred into the main wards for the same reason of non-availability of beds.

Although no official statement has been issued by the health institution, a senior consultant in one of the clinics said pointers had emerged that the prevailing scenario was likely to persist for longer if the apparent lack of progress in efforts by the Lagos State government and doctors under its employment to settle their dispute over the controversial Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, CONMESS, is anything to go by.

The healthcare worker who was on duty at the spill-over ward confirmed that the deluge of patients was overwhelming. “We are really tasked coping with this crowd. The demand is almost beyond our capacity, but we can only do what we can to manage as many people as possible.

People need to appreciate that we are doing our best to attend to all cases, but the situation on ground is very challenging.”