PHOTOS: Hospitals offer skeletal services amid labour strike in Abuja

Hospitals in Abuja offered skeletal services as the strike by organised labour paralysed economic activities nationwide. 

The unions declared the strike over a new minimum wage and electricity tariff hike.

An employee of Wuse General Hospital, who craved anonymity for this story, told TheCable that the hospital cannot afford to shut down completely.

“So we are still offering skeletal services. We are attending to minor issues,” the worker said.

“The management staff are currently in a meeting and when they come out, they will be able to give an official stand on the strike.”

Meanwhile, a student intern at the hospital said patients had been discharged, with only those in critical condition allowed to stay.

At the National Hospital, Abuja, Tayo Hastrop, spokesperson for the hospital, told TheCable that although there is a strike, the hospital has to attend to emergency cases.

He said the nurses in the hospital fully complied with the strike and were not at work.

“From tomorrow, we will see if the strike continues, we may have to just run skeletal services alone. But we will definitely attend to emergencies,” he said.

A member of the radiology department said some patients were being attended to while some were turned away.

“The strike is total and indefinite but we have to save lives,” the employee said.

“Definitely, I can’t do everything but we have to empathise with patients, especially those with critical conditions.

“Our union leaders are monitoring the strike, and if they come, we have to leave our duty posts.”