Resident doctors at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi-Araba, have embarked on a two-day warning strike.
The LUTH doctors, under the platform of the Association of Resident Doctors, ARD, went on a protest on Tuesday, against the management of the hospital whom they accused of ignoring their demands for the payment of their five months arrears of salaries and provision of adequate security, among other issues.
Carrying various placards with inscriptions such as “LUTH is dead, we are mourning”, “Pay our outstanding salaries,” “Enforce our security, we don’t feel safe”, “Doctors have become objects of foreign exchange”, “A hungry doctor is a dangerous doctor, pay us,” among others, the doctors pleaded with the hospital management to accede to their demands.
President of the ARD, LUTH chapter, Dr. Kayode Makinde, said some of the resident doctors in the hospital had not been paid for the past five months.
READ ALSO: FG Empowers 40 Persons Living with Disabilities, 188 others with N3m
“How do you explain to your family and loved ones that as doctors who work in LUTH, who provide care to the sick and the vulnerable that your life can be cut short even in the line of duty due to inadequate security. Isn’t this a basic requirement to function?” he asked.
However, the Chief Medical Director of LUTH, Prof. Chris Bode, countered the doctors claims saying they went on strike because some of their members were queried by the hospital’s management.
Speaking through the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Prof. Olufemi Fasanmade, the CMD, said: “The doctors that were issued query based on their conduct have responded, but the ARD wants the management to withdraw the query and apologise, which is not possible. They have decided to lump up other issues, but I can tell you that the reason for their agitation was because of the query issued to some members.”
He described the allegation that some of the doctors were owed up to five months as false.
