The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at the Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Ogun State, has commenced on a three-day warning strike over the poor welfare package for doctors.

In a letter addressed to the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, and jointly signed by the ARD President, Dr Popoola Mutiu, and the General Secretary, Dr Osundara Tope, the association said it regrets the lack of response from the state government to the plight of doctors in the state.

ARD noted that the government’s attitude to previous strike warning letters showed it did not take doctors’ welfare seriously; it condemned the increase in hazard allowance from ₦5,000 to ₦10,000 as a mere charade.

The association however said its members who are working at Covid-19 isolation centres will not partake in the strike action.

The letter read, ‘There has been no commitment whatsoever from the government on the issue[s] of appropriate remuneration, entry level, new minimum wage, hazard allowance and life insurance for our members.

’Despite the inadequate response of [the] Ogun State government to the health risks confronted by our members during this [Covid-19] pandemic, our members went ahead to continue their work diligently in their various departments and at the isolation centre.

’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 association lamented.

Source: Daily Trust

Photo source: Sergio Santos