Enugu to hold striking doctors responsible for patients’ death

TRACKING____The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH) Parklane chapter, yesterday embarked on a one-week warning strike to press home for better conditions of service.

But the development did not, however, go down well with the state government which had warned the striking doctors that they would be held responsible for any death recorded in the hospital as a result of the strike, noting that it was “shocked” by the unannounced industrial action.

The government, in a statement signed by Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Health, Dr. Ifeanyi Agujiobi, for the Commissioner for Health, complained that patients, including those with complications, were being hurriedly discharged as a result of the strike which it described as an “illegal action” by resident doctors at the hospital.

Insider sources among the doctors revealed that a letter was written to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on Friday 28 February, 2020 to inform him that residents would embark on the warning strike the following day.

“We also told him that we shall follow it up with an indefinite strike if nothing was done to address our demands for better pay and condition of service,” an official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the matter said.

The official said that the decision to embark on the strike was taken on Thursday 27th February, 2020 after the association’s emergency meeting to appraise the conditions under which doctors were working at the hospital.

The doctors among other things said the issue of unending brain drain among ESUTH resident doctors as a result of the poor conditions under which they work.

“Many of us are sad that this is having a huge impact on the quality of care that patients are receiving and we’ve told the governor in writing about our concerns in this area,” he said.

He also mentioned non-implementation of the corrected Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMES) which the residents hoped would have led to adjustments in their minimum wage.

Although the Union acknowledged payment of adjusted minimum wage by the government, he said the recent increase arising from the general minimum wage computation “though appreciated will not suffice.”