IMSUTH, Orlu begins indefinite strike

Staff  of   the Imo  State  Teaching  Hospital (IMSUTH) in Orlu, Monday, commenced an indefinite  strike in line with their vow to proceed with the action at the end of an earlier warning strike embarked upon to ask the state government to give  a   satisfactory  response  to  their  demands.

The  workers   had   gone  on  a  three-day  warning   strike    last  week in  order  to   give  a  red  alert  to  Governor  Okorocha   who  they  say  has   persistently  treated   them  with   indifference   and  disdain.

The industrial action has forced patients to be moved   out of the hospital as only a few   consultants   were providing skeletal services.

One  of  the   affected   sick   people  who  was   denied  access  to  the   hospital  shed  tears  and  said: “My  children  have  tried   the   much  they  can. This  morning,  they  took  me  to   the   Federal  Medical  Centre, Owerri  for   treatment  and  possibly  for  admission. We were  told   that   the   FMC, Owerri  was  also  shut  down  for  a  long  time; we  were  denied  access  to  the   doctors. We  moved   to  this  IMSUTH  in  the  hope  of   getting   adequate   attention,  but  we  have  also  been  told  that  IMSUTH  is  also  on  an  indefinite  strike. I can now go home and die.”

As it is, the  workers  of  the  two major  hospitals   in  Imo  State   are  now  on  an  indefinite  strike.

The  two  hospitals  are  the  Federal  Medical  Centre,  Owerri  and  the  Imo State  University  Teaching  Hospital, Orlu.