Many hospitals in Lagos have turned to ghost towns as the strike embarked upon by health workers bites harder.
The industrial action has worsened patients' challenges, following what has been described as the deteriorating working conditions of health workers, especially nurses, which have reportedly reduced the ratio of nurse to patients.
Reports say it now stands at four nurses to about 32 patients, which is a sharp drop from the World Health Organisation's (WHO) recommendation of one nurse to, not more than four patients.
While state-owned hospitals, under the aegis of Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) had completed a seven-day warning strike on Wednesday, the federal health workers are still negotiating with the ministries of labour and productivity and health. The workers have threatened to proceed on indefinite strike if their demands are not met.
Nurses at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, have said they will not call off the strike until their demands are met. The nurses, under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), had started an indefinite strike on June 10.
Source: The Guardian.