By Asmau Ahmad
The Association of Resident Doctors, Lagos University Teaching Hospital chapter (ARD-LUTH), on Thursday called for the payment of their two months salaries by the hospital management.
Dr Bankole Alagbe, the association’s Assistant General Secretary, made the appeal in a statement in Lagos.
“As of today, none of our members have received the December and January salaries.
“Our members celebrated Christmas and the New Year without salary. Indeed, many were not be able to pay their children school fees for the second term.
“It has become imperative to inform all stakeholders and indeed the general public about the numerous challenges we have been facing in the course of discharging our duties,” it said.
He said that the striking health workers were being paid promptly, while the doctors had been stretched beyond their capacity to mitigate the effect of the strike on the populace.
“ It is a testament to our commitment that despite the bottlenecks posed by the strike, we have been able to keep most clinics running.
“Our members have been taking calls in darkness with the attendant security risk.
“Most of us come to the clinics and wards with personal tools and equipment since the ones provided by the hospital have been locked up by the striking workers,” he said.
Alagbe appealed to stakeholders in the sector to promptly address what he described as injustice and bring succour to the doctors.
In his reaction, Prof. Chris Bode, the acting Chief Medical Director of LUTH, told NAN that non-payment of the doctors’ salaries was as a result of problem in the payment system.
Bode explained that aside from the resident doctors, some other consultants were also affected.
“It is not just a LUTH problem, some hospitals are also affected. The problem is not from LUTH management, but from the Federal Ministry of Finance.
“The management is concerned and we are doing everything possible to resolve the issue,’’ he said.
