Outcome of Nurses’ nationwide strike

By Christy Emeka

The effect of the nationwide seven-day warning strike embarked on Wednesday by Nurses under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives-Federal Health Institutions,  NANNM-FHI, is already been felt as patients in public hospitals across the country were left groaning, and stranded.

Patients were discharged, many hospital wards were deserted, skeletal services operated in some areas, while other hospitals were completely shut down.

We learnt from Punch Online that in the Federal Capital Territory, Bayelsa, Benue, Kebbi, Edo, Rivers, Ogun, Gombe, Jigawa, Sokoto, and Borno, scenes at hospitals showed parents clutching their children on benches, patients begging for attention, children returning home with sick relatives, some sitting on the floor, and others leaning against walls in distress.

The NANNM-FHI is demanding from the Federal Government an upward review of shift allowance, adjustment of uniform allowance, creation of a separate salary structure for nurses, an increase in core duty allowance, mass employment of nurses, and the establishment of a nursing department within the Federal Ministry of Health.

Executives of NANNM we learnt were at the hospital to monitor compliance with the strike directive.

Before embarking on the strike, the union had issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, warning of an imminent total shutdown of healthcare services if their demands were not addressed.

“At the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja, there were long queues at the General Out-Patient Department, Immunisation Section, Consultation Section, and Surgical Out-Patient Department.

“Speaking during the monitoring at the medical centre, the NANNM chairman, Victor Asu, said, “I am here today (Wednesday) to ensure absolute compliance. Although doctors and other healthcare workers are not on strike, services have become slow, and patients are already complaining.

“I went to the Intensive Care Unit and a patient was agitating to be discharged. We have resolved that no member will attend to patients in the wards or stay with them overnight. Normally, nurses provide 24/7 care, but for now, we are fully on strike.”