By Becky John
Resident doctors at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital have embarked on a five-day warning strike. The President of the hospital’s resident doctors association, Dr Owen Omorogbe, told the newsmen on Saturday in Benin that the strike was over welfare issues. Owen said that the doctors want an end to problems of unpaid financial entitlements, casualisation of medical officers and poor job description for interns in the hospital.
He also said that the industrial action was to pressurize the management of the hospital to implement the new salary grade level approved for House Officers.
In her reaction, the Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Mrs Kehinde Ibitoye, said medical consultants had been directed to offer medical services pending the resolution of the matter. “The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital was not around when the doctors embarked on the strike. “The CMD will be around on May 11, and he will have a meeting with the association,’’ she said.
