Resident doctors at the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Parklane, one of the major hospitals in Enugu, have vowed to scale down all admissions, emergency intakes and clinic consultations by 50 per cent due to acute shortage of doctors and house officers at the hospital.
The dire situation at the hospital was contained in a communiqué issued at an emergency general meeting of the Association of Resident Doctors (ESUT-TH) on Thursday, which was obtained by Daily Sun.
In the communiqué, which was jointly signed by the President of the association, Dr. Chima Edoga and its General Secretary, Dr. Chukwunonso Ofonere, the doctors observed that the current number of house officers was greatly insufficient for a teaching hospital like ESUT-TH, which has the highest patient load in the state.
They equally said that the number of resident doctors at the hospital has continued to decline without any replacements, leading to unprecedented burden on the few that remain as well as resulting in significant drop in quality of care given to patients.
In view of the prevailing situation at the hospital, the doctors proposed that “the hospital management should urgently employ a minimum of 20 new house officers who can be recruited from the newly inducted medical doctors.
“That the hospital management should urgently engage new residents in the following departments: Surgery, Psychiatry, Anaesthesia, Ophthalmology, Paediatrics, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Radiology and Otorhinolaryngology.
“That starting from Monday, July 19th, 2021, the Association of Resident Doctors, Parklane will, in conjunction with the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) ESUT -TH Parklane, scale down all admissions/emergency intakes and clinic consultations by 25 per cent in the first instance and 50 per cent from Monday, August 2nd 2021, if recruitments are not carried out.
“That the management of ESUT-TH Parklane should immediately review the procedures and terms for refunds of update and exam expenses, to closely align with the provisions of the Medical Residency Training Funds (MRTF) being implemented in Federal Tertiary Health Institutions and in some state tertiary health institutions. “The hospital management should also refund the Bench Fees paid by members of Association of Resident Doctors (ESUT-TH), prior to provisional stoppage of the implementation of bench fees by the Federal Government.”
It was gathered that the Cardiology unit which normally has a minimum of four to five residents, with the clinic closing at 2 pm daily, is now left with only one resident who has to attend to patients alone till late in the night.
Meanwhile, a source said the situation may worsen as not less than 50% of resident doctors in the hospital have resigned since January this year. It is also being feared that more will resign by the end of the year when many of them would have passed their PLAB 2 exams, the final exams to qualify for the United Kingdom (UK) medical council registration which is the key requirement for emigration to practice in the country.
