SITING COVID-19 ISOLATION CENTRE AT ESUT TEACHING HOSPITAL IS DANGEROUS — RESIDENT DOCTORS ADVICE GOV UGWUANYI

Full medical services have resumed at the ESUT Teaching Hospital, Parklane Enugu, barely twenty-four hours after resident doctors at the facility downed tools. President, Association of Resident Doctors in the hospital, Dr. Chima Edeoga told Radio Nigeria that the doctors suspended withdrawal of their service following the State Government’s assurance to implement their demand.

According to Dr. Edeoga, resident doctors in the hospital are lowly paid when compared with what their counterparts receive in other tertiary health facilities.

“The government reached out to us and they assured us that what we are demanding for that they are going to do it. “And what we are demanding for is that we are paid about half of what our colleagues receive in other tertiary hospitals.

“However, the work we do should be close to double what other people do. One is that Parklane is located in the Centre of the city, so people naturally prefer Parklane to traveling to UNTH in Ituku-Ozalla.                              

“So we felt that this disparity should be eliminated so that doctors don’t have any reason to leave parklane,” Dr. Edeoga explained.

On the issue of COVID-19, Dr. Edeoga complained against the state Government’s decision to construct an isolation centre within the Teaching Hospital arguing that it was better to situate the centre at its former location Colliery hospital, Enugu.

“Parklane has a problem of space, so if you put an isolation Centre within Parklane and if you cannot shield off that centre, then you may run into the problem of getting all patients in Parklane to become infected.

“However,  the centre that is being built currently inside Parklane can be used as an isolation ward or holding bay while the original centre in Colliery Hospital and other centres that the government may wish to build should be Isolation Centres,” the ARD President argued.                       

In the meantime, work is in progress at the construction site of the Isolation centre, ESUT Teaching hospital, Parklane Enugu. Meanwhile, there has not been any other suspected Coronavirus case in Enugu State apart from that of a seventy year old woman, whose result came out negative about two weeks ago.

 CHUKWUBUIKE MADU