Ogun resident doctors begin strike

Olayinka Olukoya, Abeokuta - 25.01.2008

Medical activities were on Thursday paralysed at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abeokuta, Ogun State, as the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) embarked on indefinite strike action following the refusal of the hospital management to heed to their demands.

The president of the ARD of the hospital, Dr.Adekunle Ashimi, told the Nigerian Tribune in a telephone conversation that the association had twice presented its notices of the strike to the hospital management which did not yield any positive result.

The resident doctors were asking the management to pay their allowances and improve their condition of service. Ashimi also said the management of the hospital had refused to pay allowances and salaries of 25 doctors and 17 doctors on housemanship, saying that they were also asking management to improve on their working conditions.

“The excuse for not paying the doctors was that they were employed last year after the budget had been approved. And we know that just as some people are leaving, others are coming. So, what happens to the allowances of the people that have left? We have doctors who are doing their housemanship and they are not paid their salaries. We know the effect of working and not being paid.

“Then the way the hospital is being run is another problem. Most of the time, drugs are not available or there won't be electricity supply when there is supposed to be an operation. And where the drugs are available, they will be substandard.

“Imagine a situation where a patient had prayed before coming to the hospital for an operation only to discover that there is no power supply to carry out the operation,” he said.

He added that the association, before now, had given the management a seven-day ultimatum and another 14 days before they finally embarked on the strike.