Patients at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, on Saturday expressed frustration over the ongoing strike embarked upon by members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).
Investigations conducted by PERISCOPE NIGERIA revealed that consultants have temporarily taken over clinical activities to prevent a total shutdown of medical services.
At the General Outpatients Department (GOPD), only 25 patients were attended to by the available physician, compared to the usual 40. Many who arrived as early as 6 a.m. were left unattended.
Grace John, who had paid the usual ₦500 follow-up consultation fee before realising that the quota had been exceeded, lamented the situation.
She said, “It’s painful that I came out only to waste my time. So, if I was dying now, that is how I would have been abandoned. I just have to go and return later. I paid ₦500 consultation fee to fast-track the process, only to find out they had already exceeded their target.”
Another Gombe resident, who pleaded anonymity while seeking medical attention for her brother suffering from a liver ailment, also expressed frustration.
She said, “I really need to get a number for my brother to see the doctor, but I was told that they have exceeded the number they planned to see. This is very sad. I hope this strike won’t cause further damage.”
Similarly, another patient, Fatima Abass, who arrived at the facility as early as 6 a.m., lamented that she could not make the list due to the strike.
Abass said, “I was here as early as 6 a.m., yet I couldn’t get the chance to see the doctor. This is so sad. What sort of country and system do we have? This is the only thing the masses benefit from, yet the government and doctors play with it.”
In a telephone interview with our correspondent, former Vice President of NARD, Dr. Kefas Wida, decried the poor welfare of doctors in the country.
He said, “I’m not talking as the spokesperson of the association but as one who has been in it for long. As a matter of fact, I just qualified as a consultant now. We have been in this struggle year after year over doctors’ welfare—it’s obvious to the blind.
“We have a system where some people just wake up and decide that doctors don’t have a life. There are institutions today where one or two resident doctors run entire departments. How is that done anywhere in the world? Apart from that, if these individuals are overworked, why should they not have something extra, especially when the majority of doctors have left the country?
“The last time NARD went on strike was three years ago. The allowance that was agreed upon three years ago, we are still talking about it. Have you ever seen government owing politicians allowances? They always pay themselves, but those that are doing the work—they will say there is no money. But when it comes to them, there will be money.”
Lamenting the huge personal investment required for medical training and retraining, Wida added, “I just qualified as a consultant. If I tell you the amount of money I spent to qualify—calculate flight from Gombe to Lagos, round trip, plus the fees I paid for the examination—it’s close to a million naira. When you calculate how many months of my complete salary I spent to fund that, unfortunately, no one is talking.”
He continued, “Government should pay attention to the healthcare sector because a lot of things are going wrong. Sometimes, we work for two days without rest. The next patient you will see, I’m not sure you will even be in the right frame of mind.”
Wida further said, “Today, a lot has changed in the economy, which has affected everyone, including doctors. The worst part of it is that government has not seen reasons to negotiate with us. What we heard is that they want to implement a ‘no work, no pay’ policy. So far, we are not even paid. If you refuse to pay, how different is it from what you are already doing? We have to be responsible in this country.”
