Strike slows down activities at University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital

Health workers insist that CONHESS be implemented.

Medical activities on Wednesday at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital slowed down after the medical staff at the hospital downed their tools to join the ongoing nationwide strike embarked upon by health workers in Federal hospitals.

Initially, the union members at the hospital did not participate in the strike which started on September 18.

The health workers’ action followed a circular issued by the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, instituting a new directive on the skipping of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure 10, CONHESS.

A visit to the hospital showed the usually busy wards and out-patients department devoid of activities.

A resident doctor, who pleaded anonymity, said that many of the patients have been discharged while others were being attended to by doctors.

He said the number of those on admission in the hospital has reduced since the strike commenced from more than 400 to less than 50 patients daily.

The Chairman, Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Baba Olowo, confirmed that his members had joined the strike.

Mr. Olowo said though the management had been holding series of meetings with the committee on how to keep the hospital operational, the situation is beyond the workers’ control.

He appealed to the Federal Ministry of Health to address the issues raised by the striking workers and save patients the ordeals of the strike.

The spokesman of the hospital, Oba Hassan-Kadiri, said that the strike was precipitated by many problems.

He, however, said resident doctors and consultants are still on ground to attend to the patients as they did not join the strike.

“The hospital is not paralysed because as you know, we are dealing with human beings and we have doctors and consultants at their duty posts,” he said