Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Doctors under the aegis of Association of Resident Doctors in Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Ogun State, have embarked on indefinite strike.
Decision to embark on the industrial action by the OOUTH doctors was contained in a statement signed by the association Chairman and Secretary, Osikoya Oludotun and Ajose Oluwafemi respectively, after its meeting, yesterday.
The doctors said the teaching hospital had witnessed serious reduction in workforce, which had led to loss of accreditation for full training of resident doctors and taken serious tolls on the health of few doctors working in the hospital.
They disclosed that they were aware of last administration’s caveat to the management of OOUTH not to exceed a certain wage bill and wondered why wages of resident doctors who had exited the system could not be made available for the employment of new doctors.
The doctors said they were forced to resort to indefinite strike as several meetings with previous and current administrations, to address the issue failed to yield any positive response.
They, however, demanded that the state government should replace the resident doctors who had exited the system over the years, to prevent poor outcomes, breakdown of health of doctors as well as low morale and non-cordial relationships among staff of the teaching hospital.
“The decline has many implications which include: loss of accreditation for full training of resident doctors. This is already happening. For example, a department has partial accreditation previously, when the accreditation team came again for reaccreditation, they met much fewer residents than the last time they came.
“There would be no way to give full accreditation in that case. Exceeding burnout of workers, leading to low morale and non-cordial relationships among staff and other attendant effects.
“Frequent breakdown in health of the workers; there has been at least one incidence 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.
“Inability to study properly for post-graduate examination and lack of time for adequate training of younger doctors and medical students because the time available is left to 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,” the doctors said in the statement.