After 105 days of strike, resident
doctors of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, returned to work on
Monday after former President Olusegun Obasanjo had intervened.
The President of the association in the
UCH, Dr. Lukman Ogunjimi, who thanked the Central Council of Ibadan
Indigenes for also intervening in the crisis, said Obasanjo invited all
major players in the crisis, including those from other affected
teaching hospitals in the South-West, for a meeting on August 12, 2015
in Abeokuta, where it was decided that the strike should be suspended.
He said clinical services in the UCH had
been hampered by infrastructural collapse, like non-working patients’
elevators, with attending negative health implications for members of
staff. Other services, like lack of laboratory materials and
disposables, he said, were also there.
He said, “The meeting was facilitated by
the first Director of Administration in UCH, Doja Adewolu, who is an
Egba High Chief. He was concerned that patients were suffering while the
strike continued, just as we were concerned also. The President of the
Association of Resident Doctors in the UCH; Lagos University Teaching
Hospital; Yaba Psychiatric Hospital; Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta;
Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria; medical elders
and Chief Medical Directors in all the hospitals were present at the
meeting. The former president played a fatherly role and persuaded us to
return to work while negotiation continues with the hospitals’
managements.”
Ogunjimi
said that at the meeting, the hospitals’ managements agreed that there
was a letter from the Ministry of Health concerning skipping and that
after expressing commitment to honour it in the next budget, the doctors
were compelled to return to work.
“Our management has agreed to start
working on our agitations locally while the 2016 budget would capture
the monetary aspect. A statement of fact, which UCH management did not
deny, is that there was an increase of N940m in the personnel subvention
of the hospital. Our stand is that this can be used to pay skipping
allowance since payment of salary from personnel subvention can never be
referred to as misappropriation, more importantly now that the
permanent secretary in the health ministry has expressly reiterated the
directive for skipping,” he added.
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