Lira Hospital strike criminal

Feb 11, 2008

THE scenes at Lira Referral Hospital, where medical staff has been on strike since last Tuesday, were abominable. The sick and the dead lay side by side in the wards. Pregnant women in the maternity ward were assisting each other to deliver.

THE scenes at Lira Referral Hospital, where medical staff has been on strike since last Tuesday, were abominable. The sick and the dead lay side by side in the wards. Pregnant women in the maternity ward were assisting each other to deliver.

Desperate patients in the casualty ward clung to their beds, while others crowded on the verandas, helplessly looking for treatment. The medical superintendent put the death toll after six days of strike at six.

But both the local people and the RDC believed between 11 and 15 had died due to neglect. Disaster preparedness minister Musa Ecweru, who happened to be in Lira in the weekend, called the situation “pathetic and very ugly”. He personally had to have the decomposing bodies removed and tried in vain to mobilise medical staff.

Worse, according to the RDC, the striking nurses chased away student nurses who tried to assist the abandoned patients and grabbed the medicines from them. This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable.

Nurses and doctors have taken an oath to treat sick people and do everything possible to save lives. Denying patients care and medicines is not only against their profession’s code of conduct, it is immoral and criminal.

Their conduct is in sharp contrast to the heroism displayed by the doctors and nurses in the Ebola-affected areas of Bundibugyo who never abandoned their patients. Some paid the highest price for their altruism.

The strike in Lira Hospital shows a lack of professionalism among Uganda’s medical staff. It also demonstrates a serious erosion of morals, where money has become the predominant motive.

However genuine their grievances may be, the medical workers should have ensured that the strike does not result into deaths. The standard practice is for medical workers to provide for a small team to take care of the patients.

The Ministry of Health must take disciplinary action against these medical workers. The hospital’s administration must also be investigated over the way it handled the strike. It appears the administration abetted the strike.

The health ministry must also take measures to restore professionalism among health workers in the country.

We cannot afford to lose more lives out of sheer criminal negligence and professional misconduct. The unprofessional health workers should be weeded out of service.
Lira Hospital strike criminal

The scenes at Lira Referral Hospital, where medical staff has been on strike since last Tuesday, were abominable. The sick and the dead lay side by side in the wards. Pregnant women in the maternity ward were assisting each other to deliver.

Desperate patients in the casualty ward clung to their beds, while others crowded on the verandas, helplessly looking for treatment. The medical superintendent put the death toll after six days of strike at six.

But both the local people and the RDC believed between 11 and 15 had died due to neglect. Disaster preparedness minister Musa Ecweru, who happened to be in Lira in the weekend, called the situation “pathetic and very ugly”. He personally had to have the decomposing bodies removed and tried in vain to mobilise medical staff.

Worse, according to the RDC, the striking nurses chased away student nurses who tried to assist the abandoned patients and grabbed the medicines from them. This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable.

Nurses and doctors have taken an oath to treat sick people and do everything possible to save lives. Denying patients care and medicines is not only against their profession’s code of conduct, it is immoral and criminal.

Their conduct is in sharp contrast to the heroism displayed by the doctors and nurses in the Ebola-affected areas of Bundibugyo who never abandoned their patients. Some paid the highest price for their altruism.

The strike in Lira Hospital shows a lack of professionalism among Uganda’s medical staff. It also demonstrates a serious erosion of morals, where money has become the predominant motive.

However genuine their grievances may be, the medical workers should have ensured that the strike does not result into deaths. The standard practice is for medical workers to provide for a small team to take care of the patients.

The Ministry of Health must take disciplinary action against these medical workers. The hospital’s administration must also be investigated over the way it handled the strike. It appears the administration abetted the strike.

The health ministry must also take measures to restore professionalism among health workers in the country.

We cannot afford to lose more lives out of sheer criminal negligence and professional misconduct. The unprofessional health workers should be weeded out of service.

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