The Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Yenagoa was on Tuesday shut following an indefinite strike declared by health workers of the institution.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workers under the aegis of Joint Health Sector Unions embarked on the strike to demand for the payment of their outstanding promotion arrears.
The strike embarked on by all categories of health workers at the centre, coupled with the ongoing doctors five weeks strike necessitated the closure of the hospital.
At the Physiotherapy Department, patients were forced out of the complex by representatives of the various health unions who locked up the facility.
Also, patients were dismissed at the General Out Patients Department where consultant physicians were rendering skeletal services.
Some critically ill patients on admission who were managed by consultants and nurses were also ejected.
“This is one strike to many, first the members of Nigerian Medical Association and now, the other categories of health workers are joining them, it is very pathetic that no one cares for the interest of patients.
“My mother has been under intensive care and managed by the consultants who are not part of the strike, but this time around even the nurses and others have started their own.
“It is so bad that this is happening when my mother was referred to this place because the private hospital I took her to lacked expertise to handle her ailment; where do we go from here?” Moses Salo lamented.
Mr Simon Bernabas, Coordinator of the Joint Health Sector Unions at FMC, Yenagoa, told NAN on Tuesday that the various unions were compelled to embark on the indefinite strike after a three-day warning strike in June.
He said the refusal of FMC Yenagoa to pay promotion arrears and other outstanding allowances currently being enjoyed at other federal medical centres made the strike inevitable.
He added that they were awaiting an invitation by the hospital management to discuss their demands.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Ebitimi Etebu, said that the non-payment of outstanding arrears of allowance was due to shortfall in funding.
“The strike is malicious because it is a national thing, we have explained to the workers that funds to pay them is not with us here and that they will be paid.
“But they just held a meeting and went on demonstration on the streets, the management is not part of that, they are on their own,” Etebu said.
On the plight of patients in the face of incessant strikes in the health sector, the hospital administrator said it is was regrettable.
“It is the same thing, the doctors have been on strike for the past five weeks or thereabout and it is the same fate, there are lots of problems in the health sector that the Federal Government is not addressing.
“So long as these things are not addressed, the unions will capitalise of them to go on strikes at will like this one the management got no notification, and they have ejected people receiving care,” he said.