Patients Stranded In Jos University Teaching Hospital As Doctors Embark On Strike

Patients seeking medical attention are stranded in the premises of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH, due to an indefinite strike action embarked upon by Resident doctors of the institution less than a week ago.

Though many of the admitted patients have been discharged and others with critical conditions attended to by consultants, new patients who did not know of the ongoing strike action got to the hospital only to be met with absence of doctors.

The strike, Vanguard Newspaper reports that is as the result of the refusal of Management of JUTH to comply with the Federal Government directive on the “implementation of skipping for doctors” among others grievances.

It would be recalled that the Association of Resident Doctors, NARD issued the notice of strike dated June 8, 2015 and signed by the Chairman, Joseph Nankat and Secretary, Kumtap Cashmir stressing that “Medical doctors in JUTH are being denied of “skipping” even when non doctors enjoy this privilege among others.”

They noted that their members are “working under difficult conditions in JUTH because of lack of consumables such as hand gloves and some emergency drugs such as oxytocin ”

NARD also decried the non-payment of training allowances to resident doctors, shortage of House officers and under payment of the few available ones which led to many moving out of the hospital.

Among their demands are the resumption of “skipping” payment, provision of essential consumables in the hospital, immediate payment of outstanding training allowances owed members, employment of House officers and payment of their entitlements.