Lagos State Nurses Make Major U-turn, Suspend Strike

Lagos State Nurses Makes Major U-turn, Suspends Strike

The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Lagos chapter has suspended its strike.

The Lagos State Nurses had embarked on a three-day on Monday, January 10.

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The purpose of the strike was to protest against poor remuneration and working conditions in Lagos state.

They, however, called it off on Tuesday, January 11 to allow the government to fulfil its promises.

We obtained from PUNCH that the state executive council of the association said on December 29, 2021, that the NANNM that the body would embark on a three-day warning strike in January.

The strike was to commence on January 10 and end on January 12, 2022.

Meanwhile, the Lagos state Chairman of NANNM, Olurotimi Awojide, said the strike was suspended. Awojide explained that the suspension was to allow the government to fulfil their promises.

His words: “We appreciate the governor for his prompt response; we had a marathon meeting with him and other stakeholders. We are hopeful that the implementation of our demands will commence immediately.

“It is on this note that we are suspending the strike to give room for the implementation of our demands. All nurses in the state are expected back at their duty posts by 8 am on Tuesday.”

Also, resident doctors had protested against the poor medical equipment in most tertiary health facilities.

The National Association of Resident Doctors at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital made this call to the government at all levels.

They lamented the lack of 21^st-century equipment.

During the 2021 Health Week and Annual General Meeting in Abuja, the government was urged to address this problem.

President ARD-UATH, Dr Amen Abdul stated that government hospitals have a few medical facilities.

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Abdul explained the current facilities available to doctors are all outdated.

He said, “We practice in an environment where facilities are almost outdated. We practice where our patients cannot even afford healthcare.

“Government needs to make the environment more conducive for us. It needs to bring out policies that will encourage the average doctor to practice well.

“We practice in an economy where we hardly have time to do other things. We also do not have money to take care of a lot of things that bother us.”

Also, Dr Abah Robert, the ex-president of the association requested sophisticated equipment. He noted that doctors always improvise for patients.

Dr Robert also advocated for quality training of doctors. He said this would impact greatly on the health of citizens. Also, doctors would be motivated to do a great job.

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The doctor also called for a great reward in the form of remuneration. He stated that this would help them take care of their responsibilities. Limitation to bureaucratic bottleneck doctors come across. He said this has affected the job output of doctors.

Dr Onyewere Vivian, the Vice President of the association called for improved doctors’ welfare.

Dr Vivian, who is also a Senior Registrar at the teaching hospital, lamented the migration of doctors. She noted that due to poor welfare, doctors are leaving the country.