Patients, relatives groan as LUTH nurses’ strike enters day seven

Management faults industrial actions

Patients and their relatives are on the receiving end as nurses at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, have vowed to continue with their eight-day-old industrial action until their demands are met.

The nurses under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), LUTH Chapter, on the morning of June 10, 2016, unilaterally downed tools.

They are protesting against the non-promotion of 71 members of their association in the 2015 promotion exercise and non-payment of teaching allowance to nurses at LUTH.

Other demands by the nurses include: lack of consumables like dressing materials, lotion, gloves, syringes and needles; inadequate/obsolete equipment; inadequate manpower; irregular water and power supply; poor staff welfare; non-payment of 2013, 2014 and 2015 promotion arrears; non-payment of 2016 uniform allowance/balance of 2015 uniform allowance; stagnation of nurses; introduction of bi-shift for nurses; and employment of nurses as contract workers.

National President NANNM, Mr. Abdulrafiu Alani Adeniji, said the strike became necessary due to poor working conditions including epileptic electricity supply and dilapidated equipment and infrastructure as well as frequent scarcity of water in the hospital.

He continued: “We wrote the management severally but received no reply. We gave the mandatory 21-day notice and later a one-week notice and three-day warning but got no response. The strike is in the best interest of the patients so that the management can address the poor working conditions.”

When The Guardian visited LUTH yesterday, it was observed that the nurses were not on duty. The wards were not as busy as they used to be. It was also observed that some relatives of patients were taking them to other hospitals because there were no nurses to attend to them.