At the emergency section during the time of the visit, there were a handful of relatives of patients on admission seated at the entrance. 

One of them, a middle-aged woman who preferred anonymity, said her son was lucky to be admitted on Thursday, as some were turned down for lack of bed space.Our correspondent gathered from the patients’ relatives that the hospital was turning down new patients for lack of bed space.

“When we came yesterday, it was only one bed space remaining. My son was lucky to have that remaining space.

“Since morning, I have seen over four emergency cases that were turned down over lack of bed space,” she claimed.

As of the time of the visit, our correspondent met a 48-year-old-man, Mr. Daniel Edet. His son, John, claimed that his critically ill father was turned down by a nurse at the emergency section without providing any cogent reason.

John narrated, “My father has been sick for three weeks now. He has been buying drugs from chemist, but he is not getting any better. He has been coughing and his legs are swollen. The cough has become severe since the beginning of this week.

“Yesterday [Thursday], he started coughing out blood and this morning, we rushed him here, only to be told by one of the nurses that we should take him to the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba. They did not give him any medical examination or a referral letter. 

PUNCH HealthWise, however, gathered from a relative of a patient on admission who preferred anonymity that Edet was in fact turned down for lack of bed space.“The nurse didn’t bother to come out to even check him. She only told us to go to IDH and we don’t even know where it is located.”

“I was here when the man and his son came in. The nurse just asked them to go to IDH, Yaba. Instead of the nurses and doctors to tell patients the truth that they do not have bed spaces to admit them, they will be sending them to different hospitals without any genuine reasons,” the source said.

Reacting to the claims, the Medical Director of Gbagada General Hospital, Dr. Adeleke Kaka, told PUNCH HealthWise that patients are normally referred to other hospitals whenever there are no bed spaces.

Kaka said, “There are occasions when there are no bed spaces to admit emergency cases. When that happens, we refer them to our sister hospitals.

“Concerning the cases of Mr. Daniel Edet, the report that I got was that he was seen by a doctor who referred him to the Mainland Hospital, Yaba. I was told that he had symptoms of tuberculosis and because we don’t have bed space for such a case, he was referred to the Mainland Hospital.” The Mainland Hospital is also the IDH.

NARD had called out its members on an ‘indefinite strike’ on Thursday, citing the Federal Government’s failure to meet its 13-point demands, including non-payment of outstanding allowances.

NARD President, Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, said the resolution was reached after NARD’s extraordinary National Executive Council meeting.

The doctors are demanding, among other things, payment of all salary arrears, review of current hazard allowance to 50 percent of consolidated basic salaries of all health workers, and payment of outstanding COVID-19 allowances, especially in state-owned tertiary Institutions.

source: Punch