Patients Lament Doctors' Strike In Katsina, Seek Stakeholders’ Help

Patients in Katsina General Hospital and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Katsina, have expressed concern over the nationwide strike currently being embarked upon by National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).

Some of the patients, who spoke with the press on Wednesday, said that the strike was really affecting them, as they could not access some services at the hospitals.

NARD had, on August 2, directed its members nationwide to begin an indefinite strike over some unresolved matters bordering in their welfare by the Federal Government.

It was gathered that there were skeletal services in some units in the hospitals, while there were no services in others.

Halima Baba, one of the patients at the general hospital, complained there were no doctors to attend to them, calling, therefore, for urgent intervention by stakeholders to end the industrial action by the doctors.

She added that the strike had really affected patients in the hospital, adding that the situation had forced many of them to either move to private hospitals or go back to home.

Another patient, Malam Adamu Bello, called on the federal government and the doctors to resolve their differences so that normal activities could resume in public hospitals.

According to him, if the strike is allowed to continue, it may push members of the public, especially the low income earners, into serious difficulty, as they might not be able to afford the cost of private health facilities.

Confirming the situation, the Spokesperson of FMC, Katsina, Alhaji Bashir Mamman, said that despite the strike, the consultants were giving essential services to patients.

According to him, despite the nationwide strike, the accident and emergency unit of the hospital is functional and attending to emergency cases, adding that the Emergency Pediatric Unit (EPU) is also working.

“There are some services that we are offering at the moment because some patients are presently on admission.

“But we cannot offer 100 per cent services. There are some services that we have suspended.