Doctors’ Strike: Patients Locked Out

The industrial action embarked upon by medical doctors in government-owned hospitals in Edo has resulted in patients being evacuated from the hospital in Auchi.

The doctors embarked on an indefinite strike on Thursday over refusal of the state government to implement the new salary structure for them.

The Tide’s source reports that only security personnel were seen within the premises of the government-owned Central Hospital, Auchi, with the gates all locked.

Patients on appointment were told by the security men at the gate to call back after the industrial action.

When asked what happened to patients on admission, the security man on duty replied saying, “Oga I cannot tell you where they have been taken to, what I noticed was that many were taken out by their people between Thursday night and Saturday.

“As you can see, there is nobody in the whole compound. We are simply here to do our duty and nothing else. The zonal medical director came in this morning not to work but just to check around and went back home.”

While some patients who milled around the locked gate looked downcast at the turn of events, some commercial motor cyclists who worked around the hospital bemoaned the strike action.