Authorities of the University College Hospital, Ibadan are seeking Federal Government’s bailout to enable them to attend to it’s challenges, FEMI ATOYEBI writes

The Chairman of the UCH Medical Advisory Committee, Dr. Adefemi Afolabi, has urged the Federal Government to provide financial assistance to tertiary hospitals to enable them to offset some of their pressing challenges, including payment of salaries.

Afolabi also noted that the absence of a health minister was frustrating the smooth flow of activities in the nation’s hospitals.

He made the appeal against the backdrop of the strike embarked upon by doctors at the UCH.

Doctors in the hospital, under the auspices of the Association of Resident Doctors, have been on strike since May 1 to protest against the non-implementation of a circular reportedly issued by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation. The circular dwells on doctors’ welfare and promotion.

Afolabi, who appraised the three months old strike, noted that there was the need for the Federal Government to provide succour to health institutions as it did for the states that owed salaries of workers.

He said, “The Federal Government needs to bail out some hospitals that have no money to pay what the doctors are asking for. Government is the father of everybody and it needs to interfere. Right now, the government has not settled down. We do not have a health minister and from what we know, the Director-General of the Budget Office has retired. Until those structures are put in place, the government has to interfere.”

Afolabi, who acknowledged the existence of the circular, said there was no provision for its demands in the 2015 budget.

He said, “The hospital is ready to comply with any circular emanating from the ministry but the financial implication must also be appropriated in the budget before the hospital can act. For us in the UCH, the financial implication involved in the circular in question has no provision in this year’s appropriation. That is why the hospital will not be able to pay that money. We do not spend outside what is in the appropriation for us. That is against financial regulation. This is the position of the hospital.”

He also urged the striking doctors to respect the oath of their professional calling.

He added, “We must consider the pain that the patients go through because of their inability to access care. You cannot get some treatments elsewhere except in the hospital (UCH). We feel for such patients. We also want the resident doctors to look at this position. The primary concern of every doctor should be the plight of the patients.

“However, doctors have the right to speak on their welfare. We have appealed to them to consider the financial regulation factor of their demands. Gone are the days when you can borrow money from the bank to satisfy a group of workers; that cannot be done again.”

Meanwhile, patients have appealed to the striking doctors and the authorities to resolve their differences for full medical services to resume in the hospital. According to Samuel Abodunrin, the ongoing strike has resulted in the withdrawal of his 65-year-old retired civil servant father from the hospital.

Abodunrin said, “My father had to leave the hospital when the doctors went on strike. We have tried to seek an alternative but we realised that only the UCH has the medical equipment to treat him. Since May 4, we have been coming here without getting adequate attention. We beg the hospital management and the doctors to resolve the issue.”

An accident victim, Muinat Asimiyu, who spoke to one of our correspondents, said she was on admission in the hospital when the strike started.

She added, “I was thanking God and the hospital for my gradual but miraculous healing when the doctors went on strike. I do not know what the disagreement is all about but I am aware it is about money. The government should listen to the case of the doctors for our sake. Many of us come here repeatedly from home to see the doctors when ordinarily we should be on admission in the hospital. Sometimes, we do not see the consultants because they are too few to attend to us.”

However the UCH-ARD President, Dr. Lukman Ogunjinmi, insisted that his members were still on strike.

He said, “We are still on strike. We are meeting the hospital management regularly but we have yet to reach an agreement. Our demands remain the same but we are not selfish. We have the love of our patients at heart. We have met elders in the health sector too.”

The Chairman, Medical and Dental Consultant Association of Nigeria, UCH branch, Dr. Adesina Olubukola, heaped the blame for the continued strike on the immediate past administration for its inconsistency in handling labour issues.

Olubukola said, “The strike is an unfortunate state of affairs. We should not have found ourselves here if we had managed better, starting from the management, the Ministry of Health and the government. There is a change in government but what we are seeing now is the result of what the previous government had laid down. There was a discordant tune in policies and regulations put forward. Circulars were issued for various groups of workers but they were not effectively implemented. The past government sowed the seed of discord between the management and members of staff.”

She also blamed the ministry for not being proactive in its approach to the issues raised by the doctors.

“If the nurses or laboratory scientists are not there even when the team leader is there, work cannot go on. As consultants, some of the resident doctors’ demands affect us but we are not on strike. We have been appealing to both parties to resolve the issues for the sake of Nigerians.”