100 days after, UCH doctors call off strike

Association of Resident Doctors, ARD, University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan branch, yesterday called on all its members to resume duty immediately, while negotiation continues with the hospital’s management. The doctors are resuming duty more than 100 days after embarking on an indefinite strike over non-implementation of a grade level skipping as directed by Head of Service of the Federation. Chairman, UCH chapter of the union, Dr. Luqman Ogunjimi, who addressed a press conference alongside Secretary General, Dr. Anthony Ude, said the union decided to call off the strike following intervention from well-meaning Nigerians, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes, CCII, elders in the field of medicine and dentistry and the Medical and Dental Council Association of Nigeria, MDCAN, among others. He said: “Our members are hereby directed by the emergency general meeting of ARD, UCH, to go back to their duty posts by 8am on Monday, August 17, 2015, while negotiation continues.” While calling off the strike in the interest of our patients, according to him, the association nevertheless, noted that the UCH management had the opportunity of paying the skipping allowance from the increased N940m from personnel subvention of the hospital. “Our stand as a congress is that this N940m can be used to pay skipping since payment of salary from personnel subvention can never be misappropriation, more importantly now that the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, has expressly restated the directive for skipping,” he said. He urged the UCH management under the Chief Medical Director, CMD, Prof, Temitope Alonge, to give attention to other perennial local issues. These, he said, includes the deplorable and dilapidated call rooms, delay and non-promotion of members even after meeting all requisite conditions and unremitted pension fund deduction/ refusal of enrolment of members on the Contributory Pension Scheme. According to him, all these contributed to the failed negotiation of over 17 months prior to the commencement of the strike, while the hospital management remained defiant to the union’s agitation over the alleged injustices.

Source - The National Mirror