Members of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital (UNIMEDTH) in Ondo State have embarked on an indefinite strike over the non-payment of their salary and poor condition of service.
The resident doctors had earlier on Monday staged a peaceful protest at the facility of the UNIMEDTH in Ondo town to press home their demands.
They carried placards with various inscriptions, expressing their plan to ground activities at the hospital if their demands were not met.
Among several grieviances, the striking doctors cited the correction of irregularities on descrepancies to salaries payment and implementation of the new minimum wage scale as part of their demands.
Other demands include payment of all hazard allowance arrears, payment of ARD members (HO’s & SHO’s) arrears, provision of conducive accommodation to resident doctors within the hospital premises and the employment of doctors to increase manpower across the previous departments among others.
But in a statement to announce the strike action on Tuesday, the President of the ARD in the state, Olaogbe Kehinde, said the doctors had been overstretched and could no longer work due to non-payment of their arrears and other benefits.
Dr. Olaogbe noted that many doctors in the state had resigned, while others left without prior notification due to poor conditions of service.
He also explained that series of ‘save our souls’ letters had been written to the management for review, but all efforts proved abortive.
“The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) UNIMEDTH, Ondo state wishes to inform the public that, after extensive deliberations among members of congress and engagements with the relevant authorities, we have been left with no choice but to embark on an indefinite strike.
“This decision, though difficult, has become necessary due to the persistent neglect of our welfare and the failure to address critical issues affecting our members across the state, infrastructure, and delivery of quality healthcare services.
“The ARD remains committed to providing quality healthcare to all citizens. However, we cannot continue to operate under conditions that undermine our well-being and compromise patient care.
“We urge the government to expedite the payment of all outstanding salaries and allowances and improve working conditions in the 3 centers across the stat, ensuring prompt implementation of all demands stated in this release,” he said in the statement.
When contacted the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Dr Gbala Micheal told Daily Trust that the authorities had pleaded with the striking doctors to give more room for dialogue.
Gbala, who acknowledged some of the demands of the doctors, added that the state government would call the striking doctors to a meeting and adressed their agitations.
“So, we are pleading for little time to address these demands, and I want to assure them that the government will listen,” he said.
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