The health sector in Nigeria is nothing to be proud of. Most of our health practitioners prefer to travel abroad for a better job, It’s very painful to say this, but it’s the truth. Our government hospitals are not working the way they should. You can fall sick in this country and end up worse just because the hospital has no proper care.
Sometimes I wonder if the people in power have ever stepped into a government hospital. The beds are old, some wards don’t even have fans, and the smell alone can make a healthy person feel sick. Drugs are not always available, and patients are asked to go outside the hospital to buy even common things like drip or syringe. Imagine coming to a hospital for help and still having to run around looking for materials that should already be there.
Let’s talk about the doctors. These are people who spent years studying. Many of them don’t sleep well, they work night shifts, they handle emergencies, yet their salary is nothing to write home about. Some are still being owed salaries for months. And to make things worse, they are expected to work with little or no equipment. That’s not fair. That’s wickedness.
Now when doctors decide to go on strike, it’s the patients who suffer most. People die not because their sickness is too serious, but because there was nobody to attend to them. I know this because I’ve seen it happen. One time during a previous strike, my neighbour’s son had an asthma attack at night. We rushed him to the hospital, but the place was empty. Only one security man was there to tell us that the doctors were on strike. The boy died that same night. That pain never left me.
So when people say “doctors should not go on strike,” I understand. Lives are involved. But what are the doctors supposed to do? Keep quiet and continue suffering? How long will they continue to beg for what is rightfully theirs? If they don’t speak up, nobody listens to them. That’s why they strike. It’s not because they hate patients. It’s because the system has failed them again and again.
I believe strike actions can help if the government is serious. Sometimes it is only when doctors leave the hospital that the government starts to panic. They will call meetings, make promises, and act like they care. But most times, after the strike ends, everything returns to the same way it was. Nothing changes. That is the painful part.
We need to stop pretending. Nigeria needs to fix the health sector. Pay doctors and nurses on time. Provide the right tools and equipment. Make hospitals a place where people can go and feel safe. This is not too much to ask.
The government should take proper action by treating our doctors and nurses right because if nothing is done, more strikes will happen, more doctors will leave the country, and more patients will die needlessly. They deserve better.
This is my response to this episode of Hivelearners community prompt of #hl-w172e3 which the topic tagged DOCTORS ON STRIKE
