Going by the shortage of resident doctors and House Officers at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), the Association of Resident Doctors in LASUTH (ARD- LASUTH) said it was embarking on a three=day warning strike to further pressure the management of the hospital and the Lagos State Government to employ needed doctors.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Lagos, the Acting President of ARD- LASUTH, Dr. Ibrahim Ogunbi, said failure of LASUTH management to immediately employ House Officers and Residents Doctors, the strike would start from 8am on Wednesday, September 5 to Friday, September 7.
During this three-day strike, the ARD-LASUTH said there would be total shut down of services in the hospital and the doctors would not attend to emergency cases as well. Ogunbi said the doctors have been pushed to the wall and do not have any other choice but to embark on the strike.
Their decision, which was based on the outcome of ARD-LASUTH’s Congress, was hinged on the fact that those resident doctors working were stressed and depressed as a result of being overworked.
He noted that following the shortage, one doctor now attends to over 100 patients, resulting in long waiting time for patients as well. Ogunbi said that the warning strike would be followed by an “indefinite partial strike during which only emergency cases will be attended to until expected response is obtained.”
“Therefore, the association appealed to the people of Lagos and the Lagos State Government for urgent action to be taken to avert this long overdue action,” said Ogunbi. Speaking further, he said:
“If you have 1000-bed in a hospital, you expect that the place will be manned enough by medical personnel.”
While making this appeal, the Acting chairman of ARDLASUTH, said the intending action of LASUTH residents was geared towards intervention for patients, adding, “When you look at waiting time in the hospital now, it is now prolonged. Also, when you have a doctor attending to 100 patients in a day, you know there is a problem.
“Also, we have elective surgeries: those that are not emergencies, people will be on the waiting list for a very long time before it gets to their turn.”
Explaining how the shortage of doctors in LASUTH came this far, Ogunbi said, although, there was brain drain, but for House Officers, some have exited the system, some have left the country while some have finished their programme. According to him, both Resident doctors and House Officers were not permanent staff.
When they finished their programme, they should be replaced, but they are not being replaced as required. Giving the number of resident doctors in service, Ogunbi said although, the Resident doctors in LASUTH should be 300, only 200 were in service presently, leading a gap of 100 unfilled.
Concerning House Officers, he noted that there was none presently in service. According to the acting chairman of ARD-LASUTH, this crisis has been on since three years without any structured policy put in place for seamless regular replacement of exited House Officers and Resident Doctors, thereby creating loopholes for optimal clinical service delivery.
| Posted: at | |
TRENDING GISTS 
2025 U-20 AFCON: Check Out All 8 Teams That Qualified For Quarter-Finals
Watch Loved-Up Moment Portable's Wife, Ashabi Shared With The Singer (Video)
Police Arrest Suspected Ritualist With Human Organs In Lagos
PHOTOS: Troops Arrest Notorious Gunrunners, Recover Arms In Kaduna