From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH, may likely embark on an indefinite strike following inability of state government to comply with its demands.
The Chairman of Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA), Benue state Chapter who is also the President of the Association of Resident Doctors, BSUTH, Dr. Ushakuma Anenga, disclosed this to our correspondent in his office in Makurdi, on Monday.
Anenga said said their demands which include payment of residency training fund said the money needs to be paid urgently.
He said, “Here in BSUTH, resident doctors are agitating because medical residency fund for this year has not been paid. Residency training is very tasking and takes a lot of money to fund it.
“For any center to run residency training, it has to give what they call residency training fund to resident doctors to be able to pay for their exams and go for their updates and this has not been paid this year. We have received approval since June 2022 but we are worried that government is yet to release the funds. We seem not to be getting attention.
“The Benue state government is aware of it, all stakeholders are aware of it. We have pleaded and pleaded. It needs to be paid urgently. It’s not like we are asking for extra money or free money. We are looking for the money to fund our training without which which we can’t afford to continue.
“We have a cooperative in this hospital and I will tell you that almost every, if not every resident doctor in this hospital, is heavily indebted to that cooperative because we keep borrowing money from it. We can’t continue like this. That is one.
He said the association is also demanding that the government starts paying the new minimum wage.
“You can imagine that with all the hazards that the doctors face, the hazard allowance is a paltry N5000 which cannot afford anything.
We have had doctors in this state that died of Covid-19, we have had doctors in this state died of lassa fever in the line of duty. We don’t know how else bad the situation can be. We need the government to start paying the real hazard allowances.”
He regretted that most times government will allow people to go on strike before they act on demand saying ” we are not shy to down tools when we reach this point because at this point, all efforts to resolve these issues amicably has failed. Unfortunately, the resident doctors have been pushed to the wall.
He noted that most resident doctors have left the state employed to the federal service saying if their entitlements are paid, it will help to curtail the brain drain in the medical sector.
As at the time of writing this report, members of the association were in a meeting to take final decisions on the strike.