Patients at Adeoyo State Hospital in Ibadan have been discharged or turned away following the nationwide warning strike by nurses under the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), which began on Wednesday.
The strike, expected to last seven days, was declared over the Federal Government’s failure to meet several long-standing demands. These include a review of shift and uniform allowances, a separate salary structure for nurses, improved core duty allowances, mass recruitment of nursing staff, and the creation of a nursing department in the Federal Ministry of Health.
When a correspondent from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) visited the hospital, located along Ring Road, most of the wards were empty. Hospital staff confirmed that only a handful of critical patients remained, and they had no nurses attending to them.
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A relative of one such patient, Mr. Adegoke Rahman, said his mother had just undergone leg surgery and could neither walk nor stand. Despite her condition, she was left in the ward with only doctors attending to her. “They’ve discharged many others. We were told nurses are not available,” he said.
Another patient, Mr. Samuel Biyi, who visited the hospital for treatment of a leg wound, was not attended to. “The pain is unbearable,” he said. “But I was asked to go or seek help elsewhere.”
A doctor who spoke anonymously explained that while doctors and some other staff are still working, the hospital has stopped admitting patients due to the nurses’ absence. “We are only handling outpatient cases for now. Those in critical need of care are being referred to private facilities,” he said.
The Oyo State chapter of NANNM had earlier directed its members to fully comply with the strike, following a resolution from the union’s National Executive Council. The strike is expected to last for one week, unless their demands are met.
A critic wrote on Facebook that it is unfortunate that nurses are currently on strike (a key sector in the country), leaving pregnant women and patients stranded. Yet, President Bola Tinubu splashed billions of Naira on a few Super Falcons players for winning a trophy. And a lot of Nigerians saw nothing wrong with it.
