Resident doctors at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Ogun State on Monday embarked on an indefinite strike over what they called “persistent decline of workforce” at the state – owned hospital.
A statement jointly signed and made available to newsmen in Abeokuta by the president and the secretary of Association of the Residents Doctors in OOUTH, Dr Osikoya Oladotun and Dr Ajose Oluwafemi respectively 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 were given to the hospital management as well as the state government but failed to yield positive results, forcing them to embark on the industrial action.
According to the statement, the decline in workforce had led to the collapse of some doctors, low morale among health workers and possible loss of accreditation for full training of resident doctors.
“The decline has many implications which include frequent breakdown in health of the workers; there has been at least one incident of a young doctor collapsing from extreme work. Thank God, she was resuscitated successfully.”
“Risk of avoidable errors in the discharge of our duties, leading to poor or improper care of our patients and litigation for the involved doctors and other healthcare workers. This cannot be overemphasised. The Inability to study properly for postgraduate exams and lack of time for adequate training of younger doctors and medical students because all the time available is left to just survive the hectic working conditions.”
“We have engaged the hospital management on many occasions without clear reprieve, since it appears to be beyond their reach. We have also met on several occasions with the representatives of the state government both in the previous and current administrations. The inertia is really disturbing.”
“We sincerely want to take care of our patients; we don’t want poor outcomes. But this is already happening when the doctors are working under hectic conditions and the health of the caregivers is also seriously endangered,” the statement said.
In a swift reaction, Governor Dapo Abiodun approved the immediate recruitment of resident doctors for the health institution.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin quoted Abiodun to have ordered that advertisement should be rolled out in all Departments where shortage of manpower exists, adding that the recruitment should take immediate effect.
