Patients’ desire for medical attention at Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH) may still not be met for months because of the strike by resident doctors over salary arrears, infrastructure upgrade, and other issues.
Students have confronted security operatives and the state government protesting the deferment of their examinations.
President of the resident doctors, Ejikunle Samson, told TheNiche that the strike is the result of non payment of salary for eight months, shortage of doctors and medical consultants, and a lack of radiological equipment.
He also cited the failure to install “CT scan, MRI, fluoroscopy and mammography machines deteriorating on the premises of the teaching hospital.”
And he moaned about “a learning vacuum” in the teaching hospital, causing the university to spend more in training students in other universities in the country.
The visit by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) two months ago led to a partial accreditation of the faculty of medicine.
Another visit for final accreditation is scheduled for December 2015 to ascertain if all necessary equipment has been installed.
Partial accreditation means IMSUTH cannot admit medical students for the next three years, a decision taken by the MDCN to enable the school graduate students on the waiting list.
One of the doctors on strike, Okoro Francis, disclosed that IMSUTH has been given a quota of 50 students to graduate yearly until the waiting list is cleared.
Medical students stormed the streets of Owerri on Thursday, October 15 with play cards asking Governor Rochas Okorocha to provide for the school to ensure full accreditation.
They complained that teaching and learning have stopped, in addition to cancelation of promotion examinations.
Other grouses include their inability to do clinical work, insecurity, inadequate accommodation, understaffing of the teaching hospital, 12 years instead of six years of studentship, and fears of not getting full accreditation by the MDCN in December 2015.
The students barricaded the streets and demanded solution to their problems, including payment of salary arrears, employment of more staff in the departments of internal medicine, pathology and pediatrics, full accreditation, and increase in the graduation quota.
Some time ago, Imo State University (IMSU) was sixth in the ranking of Nigerian universities and was among the best state-owned universities.
But for the past five years it has failed accreditation in law, theatre arts, medical laboratory, medicine and surgery, lowering its rating to 54.
It is enmeshed in dirty academic politics allegedly induced by the state government.
IMSU has had six Vice Chancellors (VCs) in the past five years – Chinedu Nwaebo, D. Nwoko, Innocent Okonkwo, Okere, Ukachukwu Awuzie, and the incumbent, Adaobi Obasi, a cousin of Okorocha.
Awuzie was made VC through a statement released by the government and until he was unceremoniously removed after one year he never received an appointment letter.
