Patients in Bayelsa State were on Wednesday stranded as public hospitals in abruptly discharged patients as nurses across the country began a 7- day warning strike to press home their demands for better working conditions.
The strike action embarked by the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), affected the proper functioning of the public hospitals in the state in the early hours of the day, as union leaders were on ground to monitor compliance.
When our correspondent visited the Primary Health Centre in Amarata community, in Yenagoa, the state capital, the busy health centre was still closed as at 9am.
Also, at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa, few patients were seen roaming around some wards without prompt attention.
Some patients said that they were still waiting for doctors’ attention after arriving the hospital as early as 8am.
Also, those who said they were on appointment with the doctors on Wednesday were also seen roaming around, waiting for attention.
The Chairman of NANNM at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Mr. Liberia Progress, who led the enforcement team at the facility, said there will be no skeletal services throughout the warning strike.
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“We have a nine-point demand. In Nigeria, they say nurses should not travel out of the country, and we have been suffering all these while taking care of our patients, and we have been doing our best.
“At this point, we are asking the government to give us our needs, so that we can also take care of our patients.
“We demand that the government should gazette our nursing scheme of service, we are asking for the implementation of the ruling of the industrial court, upward review of professional allowance for nurses and midwives, employment of more nursing personnel and adequate provision of health equipment.
“Currently, if you look at the hospitals, most times we don’t have equipment; it’s even hard for the government to provide light for us in the hospital environment, we have been suffering to take care of our patients, we are saying no, enough is enough.
“This strike is a total shutdown, no plan for skeletal services. This strike had to do with federal, state and local government nurses nationwide, and currently, the hospital has discharged so many of their patients.
“We don’t have patients in the wards, so even the patients are suffering now,” Progress said.
Also speaking, the National Treasurer of NANNM, Federal Health institution Sector, Comrade Amos Ombufa, said after the 7-day warning strike, the union will also give the federal government another 21-day ultimatum to meet the needs of the nurses.
He said that if at the end of the ultimatum, the demands are not met, they will proceed on an indefinite strike.
