Medical consultants, house officers and the National Youth Service Corps doctors have taken over treatment of patients at the Federal Medical Centre, Idi Aba in Abeokuta, after the National Association of Residents Doctors started their strike on Monday.
The centre, according to the Medical Director, Prof. Adewale Musa, has 70 consultants, 60 house officers, and 10 NYSC doctors.
The nurses were equally seen performing their duties, when our correspondent visited the centre.
However, the number of patients had dropped, as many of them had moved to the state general hospitals and private ones.
However, the number of patients had dropped, as many of them had moved to the state general hospitals and private ones.
The usual crowd was not seen at the outpatient unit of the hospital. The same scenario played out at the children emergency ward.
However, the emergency unit still has a number of patients, who were on admission.
Prof. Musa admitted that there was a reduction in the number of patients that thronged the centre since the strike began on September 4.
He said, “Though we are still attending to patients, it must be stated that there has been a reduction in the number of patients coming to the hospital.
“The reduction is between 30 to 40 per cent. We missed the services of the resident doctors, as they are quite effective. We are advising them to come to an understanding with the Federal Government, so as to end the strike.”
Prof. Musa, also said he has his own clinic day in the hospital when he also joins the medical team and he revealed that he performed a surgical operation on a patient two weeks ago.
One of the patients who spoke to our correspondent, Babatunde Kazeem, however, said though consultants were attending to patients, it was not the same when the resident doctors were around, as patients now spend extra time, before being attended to.
He said, “I have been here since 8am, and I am now leaving around 3pm. That is after about seven hours.”
