Unpaid Salaries: Ondo Doctors To Embark On Strike Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Resident doctors of the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, UNIMEDTH, Ondo State on Friday gave the Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu-led government seven-day ultimatum to pay their five-month unpaid salaries.

The doctors who staged a peaceful protest at the Akure annex of UNIMEDTH emphasized that failure of the state government to meet their demands will leave them no choice but to embark on strike action from May 15, 2020.

The doctors who displayed placards said “We are frontline care workers, please pay our salaries”, “We Are Asking For What We Have Worked For”, “A Hungry Doctor Is A Danger To The Society”.

While lamenting over what they described as maltreatment and neglect, the doctors said that the situation had become unbearable for them, stressing that official duty and personal lives are being affected amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking on behalf of the protesting doctors, the Chairman, Media Committee, Association of Resident Doctors, UNIMEDTH, Dr. Taiwo Olagbe said all steps made to bring the government to reason with doctors over the payment of salaries had failed.

“Our members are being evicted from their houses as they are long overdue on their rent renewals. Some of us have to trek long distances to the hospital as they can no longer afford to fuel their cars or board motorcycles among other demeaning and dehumanizing experiences. To avert a repeat of what happened in January, we have had wide consultations in form of letters and meetings to and with both our management and government representatives to hear our peculiar situation and do the needful but all to no avail.

“As determined, committed and resolute as we have been in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic and as frontline healthcare workers in the state in accordance with the state government’s plan to not only cut the chain of transmission but ensure that everyone in the state has access to quality healthcare irrespective of the medical or surgical condition especially at the tertiary level since the disease was first confirmed in the state, we will, unfortunately, not be able to continue to provide this much needed, cherished and patriotic service beyond the 15th of May for the obvious reason that we would have totally run out of every means to continue to do so.”

The doctors, however, resolved that before they could return to the wards, the state government must ensure “full payment of all we are owed to date including our January salary shortfall.

Reacting to the development, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Wahab Adegbenro assured that the doctors would begin to receive credit alerts starting from next week.