Strike: Lagos private hospitals record high patronage as patients desert LUTH, Igbobi, others

Following the ongoing strike by the Joint Health Sector Workers Union across the country, many private hospitals, maternity clinics and traditional healing homes in Lagos have been recording high patronage by people seeking medical attention.
The health workers’ strike, which began on April 17, has affected normal medical services in government owned hospitals, teaching hospitals and health centers, which normally receive a lot of outpatients and inpatients for the treatment of all sorts of ailments across the country.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that patronage in some private hospitals in Lagos have tremendously increased and families, who still throng the premises of government owned hospitals despite the ongoing strike, stressed that the industrial action was strictly being adhered to because doctors advised them to patronise private hospitals.
At the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, a non-medical hospital staff, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, disclosed that the hospital had become empty and deserted ever since the commencement of the strike last week.
He said that the hospital, which before the strike was frequented by many people for various medical and consultancy appointments, had now been turned to a serene environment.
“It is just the doctors that are around attending to patients while some of their relatives are also on hand to help. In fact, the few workers that are around, who are mostly doctors, have been sitting idle and doing nothing. They now close on time during the day,” he said.
At the Mofal Private Medical Center in the Ayobo area of Lagos, scores of patients were seen at both the emergency and ante-natal units of the hospital waiting to get medical attention, while its wards were fully occupied. Even the hospital premises was jam-packed with cars, leaving only a little space for pedestrians to walk.
The Front Desk officer, Mrs. Fola Adaja, disclosed that the hospital had been recording an increased patronage ever since the health workers went on strike, as family members of patients feared losing their loved ones to the strike.
She added that, owing to the influx of patients into the hospital, the management has had to refer other patients to other good hospitals around the neighbourhood.
A resident of Mushin, Mr. Ola Kazeem, told our correspondent that he had to immediately move his son, who was recently operated on for appendicitis a day before the strike began at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, to a private hospital at Yaba, where he was now
recuperating.
Kazeem said that as soon as the health workers at LUTH downed tools, the hospital environment became uncomfortable and filthy for his son and he was constrained to move him.
He explained that since the health workers’ strike began, every department in the private hospital, where his son was being taken care of, had been experiencing an increase in the number of patients unlike when the situation was normal.
A midwife and homebirth professional, Mrs. Rosemary Uchenna, said that other traditional and home birth assistants had been recording an increase in patronage because those patients who had stopped patronising them were now coming back because of the closeness of their expected dates of delivery.
“All I can say is that the strike has been profitable for me and some of my colleagues. But you know, we only deal with some specific kind of health services as we cannot handle all health issues. So, I urge the workers and the government to work out contending issues so that people who need medical services can get them at the appropriate time,” she
said.