Nurses’ first national strike in 40 years cripples healthcare as government ignores their age-long demands
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Poor patients are left reeling in pain in public hospitals and health centres all over Nigeria as the first national strike by nurses in more than 40 years clears out workers from wards and emergency units.
And, without positive government response, the agony will last seven days.
Doctors are mostly male, nurses mostly female.
Unlike doctors who frequently go on strike, this is first countrywide industrial action by nurses in more than 40 years over the same poor working conditions doctors complain about.
The strike begun on Wednesday by the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) grounded healthcare services across multiple states as hospitals prematurely discharged patients and only skeletal or emergency services were available in a few facilities.
Nurses are demanding, among others, improved staffing, better facilities, and recognition in healthcare decision-making, with the Federal Government using mere sentiments without action to appeal to them to call off the seven-day warning strike.
Labour and Employment Minister Muhammad Dingyadi made the appeal after a meeting with the NANNM leadership on Wednesday, per reporting by The Nation.
Federal Health Ministry spokesperson Patience Onuobia quoted Dingyadi as imploring NANNM to back down because a strike is not the best solution to industrial dispute.
He also reportedly urged nurses to embrace dialogue while the government continues to work on addressing their concerns.
NANNM on July 10 issued a 15-day ultimatum to the government to meet their demands, failing which they would begin strike on July 30.
The demands include:
- Creation of a department for Nursing in the Federal Ministry of Health
- Shift duty allowance for nurses at 30 per cent consolidated
- Upward review of call duty allowance at 4 per cent consolidated
- 20 per cent specialist allowance
- Upward review of uniform allowance of N300,000 per annum
- Constitution of the governing board of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN)
- Constitution of the board of Federal Health institutions to reflect fair representation of nurses
- Centralisation and re-categorisation of intern nurses
- Payment of 35 per cent teaching allowance to all nurses
- Payment of peculiar excess workload and burnout allowance to nurses
- Payment of retention allowance to nurses to mitigate brain drain
- Tax waiver for healthcare professionals
Below is a snapshot of experiences in a sample of states:
Lagos
The usually bustling corridors and emergency wards at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos were ghostly quiet on Wednesday – no workers, no patients, only abandoned beds and idle equipment.
Isolo General Hospital mirrored the scene, with most departments shut and only a few units operating at skeletal capacity.
Igando General Hospital offered perhaps the starkest scene, with its maternity ward lined with unattended mothers, their calls for help echoing in deserted halls.
“The doctor came earlier and assured me I’ll be discharged soon,” said Grace, a patient waiting anxiously amid staff absence.
FCT, Abuja
Patients groaned as nurses in government hospitals across Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), withdrew their services to press home their demands.
At the General Hospital in Kubwa, critical services were skeletal or completely halted.
In the Emergency Male Ward, the impact of the industrial action was immediately visible, as the ward stood empty and devoid of patients.
“There are no nurses to attend to the patients. We had to discharge all of them. We will only attend to emergency cases that don’t require admission.
“If they’re admitted, there’s simply no one to care for them,” a doctor disclosed.
The Special Clinic was largely unaffected, with consultations continuing as usual, while staff at the Dental Clinic confirmed that the absence of nurses did not significantly disrupt services.
But nurses and midwives resolved at an emergency congress held at the Nurses’ Lounge of the hospital to align with the directive in the interest of workers.
Many nurses who had earlier reported for duty were seen returning home, singing solidarity songs and chanting jubilantly in support of the strike.
Local NANNM chapter Chairman Olufunmilola Familu said their demands include employment of more nursing personnel, provision of adequate facilities for hospitals and health institutions, and creation of a directorate cadre for nurses at the Federal Ministry of Health, among others.
Kwara
NANNM Council Chairman Aminu Sheu said: “We are joining the strike because it is the directive of the national body.”
Sheu, however, commended Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for increasing nurses’ salaries for the third time, in line with federal directives.
“We joined the strike to show solidarity with the national body and to avoid any disciplinary consequences,” he explained.
Osun
Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC) NANNM chapter Chairman, Lawrence Oyeniyi, stressed that the chapter joined the strike because nurses are frequently sidelined in healthcare decision-making, which negatively impacts service delivery.
Bayelsa
A few patients were seen wandering around the wards without medical attention at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Yenagoa.
Some said they had been waiting to see doctors since 8am, and others with scheduled appointments were left unattended.
FMC Yenagoa NANNM chapter Chairman Liberia Progress, who led the enforcement team, confirmed that skeletal services would not be available during the strike.
Niger
There were no nurses in sight at several primary healthcare centres (PHC), including Kpakungun PHC, Tunga PHC, and Minna General Hospital.
Plateau
Nurses at Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) did not report for work, leaving only resident doctors to attend to patients.
Delta
Nurses at Central Hospital, Warri, downed tools. Patients were turned away.
Oyo
Adeoyo Hospital, Ibadan discharged patients on admission.
Many wards were empty. Only a few critical patients were retained but there were no nurses to attend to them.
A relative of a patient in the female ward, Adegoke Rahman, said some patients were told to go home.
Samuel Biyi, an outpatient, disclosed that he came to treat a leg wound but was not attended to.
Abia
Healthcare services at Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia were grounded as nurses joined the strike.
Edo
Activities at University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) were paralysed.
Read also:
Patients groan as doctors’ strike grounds services in Lagos public hospitals
