Doctors employed by the Lagos State Government under the aegis of the Medical Guild, have raised the alarm over the gross shortage of medical personnel in the state-owned hospitals, lamenting that it had impacted negatively on the health of its members as a result of work load.
Speaking in an interview with The Point in Lagos, Chairman of the Guild, Dr. Babajide Saheed, revealed that many of its members were now coming down with depression owing to burden of work and poor welfare package.
“The shortage has caused serious problems on the health of our members. Many are going through mental stress, heart disease and hypertension. Some are secretly attempting suicide as they find it difficult to cope.”
Saheed told our correspondent that many of its members have resigned due to poor working condition, warning that more would leave the system if nothing was done to tackle the problem.
He said: “We are going to a level of serious crisis in Lagos State if this is not resolved. We have gotten to a stage where for instance, two doctors are doing the work of eight doctors in the gynaecology and obstetrics section.
“We are in a situation whereby a doctor sees over 70-120 patients per clinic. Many of the doctors are depressed while some are coming down with other mental health problems.
“Again, the burden of work has made the few doctors that they have employed to leave because the system is not good for them.”
Besides going through health challenges, Saheed noted that the shortage had also caused marital problem, domestic violence and lack of parental responsibility/care among its members.
The Medical Guild Chairman further stated that the burden of work was also causing conflict between medical practitioners and the patients as many of the doctors were tired, irritable and have lost concentration on the job.
According to him, inadequate human resources have negative consequences on the general performance of the health sector, adding that patients were no longer getting optimum healthcare delivery .
“The evidences are there. There is lack of qualitative health care delivery . There is lack of accessible, affordable and equitable health care delivery . We have increase in mortality and morbidity rate and doctors now venture into non health related businesses and programmes, he said.
Saheed urged the state government to address the issue to avoid crises across health facilities in the state.
“We don’t want to embark on industrial action, that is why we are appealing to the government to do the needful before the crisis gets out of hand. All we are saying is that government has to employ more doctors. It cannot deny the huge shortage of doctors in the state”, he added.
He noted that the shortage of medical practitioners in the system could be addressed by early replacement and recruitment of doctors into the system.
He appealed to the new state governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to make the welfare and employment of more doctors a priority.
Commenting on the issue, a former Commissioner for Health in the last administration, Dr Jide Idris, who acknowledged the challenges of inadequate human resources in the health sector, told The Point that with consistent advocacy, the problem could be resolved.
“It is good that we talk about it so that the government can know the importance and consequences of shortage of human resources in the health sector. Our population is increasing, the problem needs to be addressed before things get worse”, he said.