Medical activities were partially paralysed at government hospitals in Oyo State on Monday following a one-week warning strike by the Association of Medical and Dental Officers of Oyo State (AMDO).
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who monitored the situation, reports that there was total compliance in most facilities visited, as medical and dental officers stayed away from their normal duties.
At the Ring Road State Hospital, only patients at the emergency units were being attended to.
Doctors were not working at both the Government Chest Hospital, Jericho, and Jericho Specialist Hospital, while other health workers were at their duty posts.
Similarly, at the Oni Memorial Children Hospital, Ibadan, only a few medical students were seen attending to children.
One of the students who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were already at the hospital before they got news of the strike and decided to attend to the children they met.
The association’s chairman, Dr Solomon Olaoye, told NAN that the development was in line with the directive of the association’semergency general meeting, held on Sunday.
Olaoye said members were instructed to attend to emergency patients because of their critical condition and refer them to appropriate health facilities for further care.
He listed the affected facilities to include General Hospital, Apata; General Hospital, KasumuAjia; Oni Memorial Children Hospital, Ring Road; and the Ring Road State Hospital.
Others are Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital, Jericho Specialist Hospital, Government Chest Hospital and Primary Health CareCentres.
According to him, the oneweek warning strike, which commenced at 12.00 a.m. on Monday, will end at 11.59 p.m. on Sunday.
He recalled that the association had earlier issued a 21-day ultimatum on Sept. 21 and a final 14-day ultimatum on Oct. 12 for the resolution of the issues.
He said that while the association appreciated engagements involving the Office of the Head of Service, Ministry of Establishments, Ministry of Health and the Hospitals Management Board, the matters remained unresolved.
According to him, the demands of the association include the implementation of Professional and Accoutrement Allowances for medical and dental officers.
Others include the circularisation and nominal implementation of the approved skipping policy, placing the entry point of Medical Officers at GL 13/CONMESS 3 and Consultants at GL 15 Step 4/CONMESS 5 with consequential adjustments.
Other demands are the circularisation of the approved 10 per cent Responsibility Allowance of basic salary for non-specialist medical officers heading government health institutions.
He added that the association also demanded restoration of salaries of doctors transferred from the Hospitals Management Board to other government Departments and Agencies.
“We also demand recruitment of Medical and Dental Officers to address manpower shortages and implementation of inducement and retention allowances, each at 100 per cent of basic salary,” he said.
He said the warning strike was intended to provide a final opportunity for the government to resolve the issues and avert prolonged disruption of healthcare services.
Olaoye, however, said should the demands remain unresolved at the expiration of the warning strike on Sunday, the association would commence a total and indefinite strike from Nov. 2 without further notice to government.
He urged Gov. Seyi Makinde to intervene decisively to ensure all outstanding matters were resolved within the warning strike period. (NAN)
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