Ogun striking doctors vow to go on, as Gov Abiodun resists

The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Ogun State have vowed to continue their strike over “persistent decline in the workforce” at the state – owned health institution.

The Secretary of the ARD OOUTH, Dr Femi Ajose told Daily Trust that the aggrieved doctors were not swayed by Abiodun’s order on recruitment shortly after they declared the industrial action on Monday.

A statement issued by the Resident Doctors had expressed regret that while the shortfall in the workforce has not been replaced, “patient load has increased remarkably over the past few years.”

The aggrieved doctors said series of meetings and warnings gave to the hospital management as well as the state government had failed to yield positive results, forcing them to embark on industrial action.

Four days into the strike, Ajose said the government had announced recruitment in the past without corresponding results on the number of doctors need.

While insisting that the strike continues, he said “Yes, the strike is still on. This is not the first time the government would announce recruitment of doctors but at the end the government will not recruit the required number of doctors.”

Asked when the strike will end, Ajose said “The strike was declared at the Congress and it is only the Congress that can decide on when to end the strike.”

But the governor on Thursday told the striking resident doctors, “My  administration will  not allow anyone, any group of persons to hold government or its people to ransom under any guise.

“I am  hoping to see the resident doctors have a change of heart and call off their industrial action to tend to their primary responsibility of saving lives.

” I was quite relieved when we received an interim recommendation that we should commence the recruitment of medical personnel, amongst which are the resident doctors that we have been  agitating for,so,we were quite relieved  that the go ahead was from you and that was why we did not waste time in its implementation.”