Members of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital (UNIMEDTH), Ondo have commenced an indefinite strike over alleged poor condition of service.

It was gathered on Tuesday that the striking resident doctors protested on Monday after management of the hospital refused to heed to their demands.

Precisely, they demanded a stop to illegal deductions from their salaries, check on huge payment of taxes, non-payment of hazard allowance amongst others.

President of the UNIMEDTH ARD, Dr. Olaogbe Kehinde, urged the state government to expedite payment of all outstanding salaries and allowances, improve working conditions in the three centres across the state, and ensure prompt implementation of their demands.

He said the workload was too much for doctors in the hospital, noting that many doctors have resigned while others left without prior notification due to poor conditions of service.

Dr. Olaogbe who claimed the hospital management refused to heed to their request for a review of their working conditions said the strike action was a difficult decision due to failure to address critical issues affecting its members, infrastructure, and the delivery of quality healthcare services.
He said: “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. We deeply regret any inconvenience this strike may cause to patients and the public.”

The immediate past president of the striking doctors, Dr. John Matthew, said the disparity between the salary of doctors in Ondo State and other states were huge due to illegal deductions and taxes.

Dr. Matthew said many doctors in the state have taken up appointments in other states.

According to him, “We will not return to work until our demands are met. Money is the core issue because that is what is driving doctors away. There is a huge disparity in payment between Ondo and Ogun States. Doctors will go to states that are giving doctors good welfare packages but they are worsening the terrible welfare here.

“The issues are illegal deductions from our salary and the humungous taxes we are paying. It is killing the system and driving doctors away. The hospital was disconnected from the national grid and we were sleeping and working in the dark.”
However, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Gbala Micheal, pleaded with the striking doctors for more time to enable management address their grievances.