Many patients who visited the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State on Monday left unattended to as the strike embarked upon by the hospital resident doctors entered its fourth day.

The President of the Association of Resident Doctors in the hospital, Dr. Lukman Ogunjinmi, said casualisation of medical officers and the refusal of the UCH management to honour a circular issued by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation on the welfare of doctors were issues at the centre of the strike.

The association has about 600 doctors in the hospital.

He said, “The reasons why we are on strike are clear. What we are against is casualisation and we want skipping to be implemented as directed by the Federal Government in circulars issued by the Head of Service of the Federation and that issued by the Federal Ministry of Health.

“The Federal Government in the circular said a particular grade level should be skipped by all health workers. It has been done for all other health workers while some centres have started doing it for doctors. This is backed up. Here in UCH, it has not been done.”

Ogunjinmi however said that the representatives of the association were meeting the hospital management on Monday and that its position would be made known after the parley.

He also said that some of the members were rendering skeletal services to patients.

But the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Temitope Alonge, had denied having doctors with casual status in the hospital.

Alonge said that some of the issues raised were internal matters that had been resolved.

He said, “For us, the issue of salaries and wages that are due to workers is not the prerogative of the ministries. It is the prerogative of the National Salary and Wages Commission. So, the issue of employment is resident in the Head of Service.


http://www.punchng.com/news/uch-patients-groan-as-resident-doctors-strike-persists/#disqus_thread

This is not good for our economy. I hope government does something about this soonest.