Ogun Resident Doctors Embark on Strike

Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, in Ogun state, has informed that it will begin a three-day warning strike on Monday over non-implementation of its demands by the state government.

The doctors,  in a letter written to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Sunday in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital expressed their grievances.

The letter jointly signed by the ARD OOUTH President and the General Secretary, Dr Mutiu Popoola and Dr Tope Osundara respectively explained that the association decided to down tools because of the noncommittal response to several letters written to the government on the matter.

The doctors’ demands included non-implementation of the new minimum wage, hazard allowance, inappropriate remuneration, entry level and absence of life insurance policy for its members.

They also alleged refusal of the state government to appropriately attend to previous warning letters has shown that the government was less concerned about their plight, describing the purported increase in hazard allowance from N5,000 to N15,000 as a charade by the government.

The aggrieved doctors further disclosed that their members working at the COVID-19 Isolation Centre would be exempted from the strike action.

“We were taken aback by the arbitrary change in only hazard allowance to be given as COVID-19 Special Hazard Allowance to all health workers.

“The 200 per cent increase in hazard allowance is just an increase from N5000 to N15,000 for just the month of April.

“We are in quandary about how the government will put up a charade without giving attention to what our concerns and the real issues are.

“It is also unsettling to know that our members are without a life insurance or a tax rebate as seen with the Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Government and Health Professional Associations and Unions,” the letter concluded.