The indefinite doctors’ strike, which began in August, and the lack of healthcare staff and medicines at hospitals and clinics in northeastern Nigeria are putting lives at stake.

Residents and internally displaced persons in Old Maiduguri in the Jere Local Government Area of Borno State said the healthcare system had been bad for a long time but it had worsened since doctors had gone on strike.

They said it was not worth going to their nearest healthcare facility, the Madinatu Maiduguri Clinic, because of the doctors’ strike and the lack of medicines.

They said nurses and other health workers were struggling because of the strike and they were treating only accident and emergency patients.

The doctors’ strike started just as the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic hit Nigeria. Apart from the deadly virus, healthcare workers have also had to deal with outbreaks of cholera, malaria and measles in northeastern Nigeria.

The doctors, all members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), are striking over pay disputes. The union represents about 40% of the country’s doctors.

Nigerian media outlets have said that patients – some with COVID-19 symptoms – have been turned away at short-staffed hospitals. Other patients had been discharged on to the streets or left to languish in hospital beds without being diagnosed or receiving treatment, according to an AP News report.

Maryam Zannah, a resident of Old Maiduguri, said her sister had nearly died because she could not get adequate care when she was about to deliver her baby.

“The labour took more than 24 hours and we nearly lost her and the baby.”

Another resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said the doctors’ strike was affecting everyone. “If you get sick, there is nowhere to go for treatment. There are no doctors in public or state hospitals and clinics.”

He said there were no private clinics or hospitals in the area. “I know of people who have died because they could not get the urgent medical treatment they needed.”

Yafannah Modus, also a resident, said women and children were “really suffering”.

“Pregnant women are not getting adequate care and some children have died from measles and others from malnutrition.”

She said the non-governmental organisations’ clinics in internally displaced persons’ camps within the area were already overcrowded and did not have the capacity to treat more patients.

“It’s time for the government and doctors to come to some agreement. We cannot go on like this. Healthcare is a right and they cannot take away that right.”