Idowu Abdullahi Resident doctors at the Ondo State University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital have embarked on an indefinite strike over the non-payment of hazard allowances and poor working conditions. The doctors, who staged a peaceful protest within the hospital’s premises on Monday, demanded among others the immediate resolution to irregularities and discrepancies in salary payments, as well as the full implementation of the new minimum wage. The resident doctors also called for an end to illegal deductions from their salaries, review of exorbitant tax payments, and payment of all hazard allowance arrears.
While addressing journalists, the Ondo ARD President, Olaogbe Kehinde, said the doctors were overstretched and could no longer work due to the non-payment of their arrears. He said the industrial action became imperative after the hospital’s management ignored their request for a review of these conditions. “We demand the correction of irregularities and discrepancies in salary payments, the implementation of the new minimum wage scale, and parity in salary payments with other tertiary hospitals as stipulated in the teaching hospital constitution, among other issues,” he said.
According to him, the strike was a difficult decision, but the doctors could no longer work under conditions that undermine their well-being and compromise patients’ care. “We deeply regret any inconvenience this strike may cause to patients and the public,” he said. Also speak.
