Bunmi Ogunyale
Resident doctors at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), yesterday, embarked on a two-day warning strike over unpaid wages.
The hospital Association of Resident Doctors President, Dr. Kayode Makinde, said the management has turned deaf ears to their demands for members welfare.
“How does one explain a situation where a house officer, the most vulnerable of the doctors in LUTH, who has worked every day over the last five months is yet to receive a single kobo as salary?
“How also do we explain a situation where resident doctors are being owed salaries, some up to five months.
“Another issue is that of our members who have been promoted over the years but the attached benefits have not been paid. The records are there for all to see.
“The last time LUTH recruited doctors was in 2016. This has resulted in an acute shortage of medical doctors of all cadres, thereby predisposing Nigerians to sub-optimal care.
“Our members have have gone for update courses and conferences, they have written examinations. Yet no single examination and update fee has been paid on behalf of or refunded to any resident doctor since 2014. “Even with the passage of the Medical Residency Training Bill into Law in 2018, there is still no commitment from LUTH management in this regard.
“One then wonders how other teaching hospitals are able to offset some of these monies and LUTH keeps giving the same excuse of ‘no money’ every year,” Makinde said.
But the hospital management in a letter signed by Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Prof. Olufemi Fesanmade, said the striking doctors were admitted for training in essential service sector and, therefore, cannot leave without observing the appropriate laid down procedures.
He said salaries and arrears of doctors are paid by the Federal Government and not by LUTH, insisting the extant rules governing strike, no-work-no-pay, is in force.