The management of Uni
versity of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) says workers at the directorate level have been mobilised to provide skeletal services following the strike by health workers.
Prof. Etete Peters, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Hospital, made the statement on Tuesday in Uyo in an interview with newsmen.
He said that as the strike, which involved five unions in the hospital entered its second week; the hospital had decided not to accept new patients except those on emergency.
“We have drafted staff members from the ranks of assistant directors and above to join the doctors to attend to patients on admission and emergencies,” he said.
He said that some nurses given to humanitarian services, still turned up to check on patients on admission despite the strike.
“I have seen so many nurses not minding the strike still volunteer to come and take care of patients,” Peters said.
The CMD, who described incessant strike by health workers as ‘dangerous,’ said the hospital could not function effectively without the full components of its staff.
He said the hospital did not record any casualty due to the strike because limited numbers of patients were on admission.
He said that the timing for the strike was not good as the country was approaching the 2015 general elections.
Peters appealed to the striking unions to bear with the Federal Government and call off the strike in the interest of patients.
The chairman, Senior Staff Association in the hospital, Mr Aniekan Akpan, told newsmen that the strike was nationwide.
He said members of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) were demanding adequate funding of teaching hospitals and improved welfare for workers.
An ante-natal patient at the hospital, Mrs Uduak Bassey, lamented that the strike had imposed financial burden on her family as she had resorted to private clinic.