Patients in critical condition at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital were locked out by management after Unions embarked on a peaceful protest. Several patients at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba in Lagos were stranded yesterday as the three main entrance gates of the hospital were put under lock and key by the hospital’s management for several hours to frustrate a labour union’s protest rally, NewTelegraph reported.
The report stated that all the professional unions in LUTH, which were involved in the protest in the teaching hospital, have called on the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to intervene and investigate the allegations of steady decline of the hospital, resulting in poor care service provision, poor staff welfare, victimisation of workers, and lack of basic working tools, among others. Sadly, it was also reported that some of the patients in LUTH, who were receiving treatment in the hospital, were locked outside for over two hours, while many families were also denied the opportunity to visit their families and friends, as security officials stopped people from gaining entrance into the hospital for medical treatment.
Apart from the hospital’s gates being under lock and key, there was heavy presence of armed security personnel within and outside the hospital’s premises to prevent breakdown of law and order.
It was reported that the sad incident forced patients to be stranded. An elderly woman, who was brought into the teaching hospital in critical condition by her family for urgent attention, was prevented from gaining entrance into the hospital through the main gate.
After waiting for several minutes without any attempt by the security officials to open the main gate, the elderly woman was later rescued by some journalists and sympathisers, who put her in a Channels Television bus and assisted her to gain entrance into the hospital for emergency treatment through the College of Medicine gate, which is almost 200 meters to the LUTH gate.
The labour unions, under the aegis of Joint House Action of LUTH, which comprised the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), among others, held a protest rally within the hospital premises to demand a better deal from the hospital’s management.
Others are the Non- Academic Staff Unions of Universities (NASU), the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (MLSN), among others.
The aggrieved workers were also seen singing and carrying placards around the premises peacefully. Some of the placards read:
After the protest, representatives of the unions in LUTH promptly delivered a letter, which highlighted their demand, to the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode in his office at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, where they urged him to assist transmit same to the Acting President for prompt action to prevent further loss of lives in LUTH.
Speaking to journalists, an anonymous victim, whose relative just gave birth in LUTH, took a swipe at the hospital management for being insensitive to the plight of the people, particularly by stopping people from gaining entrance into the hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, addressing journalists on behalf of all the labour unions to express LUTH workers’ grievances and challenges relating to patients, staff and public, the chapter President of the Association of Resident Doctors Dr. Adebayo Sekumade, said the present state of LUTH was at variance with the overall policy thrust of the government in the health sector and the overarching wish of Nigerians for affordable, accessible and effective health care.
“Presently, the intensive care unit (ICU), for critically ill patients in LUTH has broken down in the last two months and patients requiring these services were being sent away to seek care elsewhere,” Sekumade noted. According to a factional Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Lagos, Dr. Olubunmi Omojowolo, workers in LUTH do not get their full salary.
“What they get is a fraction of their remuneration and all efforts to reverse this trend has not yielded result. Sometimes, they get about 60 per cent of their pay.” Speaking on the plight of LUTH workers, a Vice Chairman of NANNM, Mr. Stephen Olutola, said: “The CMD of LUTH, Prof. Christopher Bode and his management team are not sensitive to the things happening in the hospital. “Often, there is no water and lack of power supply hinders health care provision.”
The Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), LUTH, Dr. Olufemi Fasanmade, said the claims of the unions were not true.
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