Doctors beg governor for pay

Isaac Adewole

The Association of Resident Doctors, Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, have called on the Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, to  pay them full salary like other health workers in the state instead of the half salary they have been receiving.

The plea was contained in a statement signed by President of the association, Dr. Sebastine Oiwoh, and its General Secretary, Dr. Ayobami Alabi, which was issued on Saturday.

The association decried the singling out of its members for the treatment by the state government, saying that it added to the poor financial situation of members who were being owed arrears or salaries.

“They have been paid full salaries from January to March 2016, while we received half of the payments made. We want to appeal the recently implemented decision to pay only doctors and other staff of LAUTECH Ogbomoso 50 per cent of our salary after being owed for seven months.”The statement said, “We beckon on the listening ears and tender heart of our Governor Abiola Ajimobi, not to single our members out amidst other health workers in the Oyo state civil service. All other doctors and health workers in the state civil service are receiving full salary.

The association said since its members rendered full services to save lives and contribute to the development of the state and the teaching hospital, they deserved full salaries.

The doctors acknowledged  that the state government had done well by establishing the teaching hospital, but that it had, however, reneged on its promise in the area of funding of residency training.

The statement further said, “It has also reneged on the installation of some essential equipment, delivery of equipment by contractors and completion of infrastructure to match the blue print of the hospital. The university, in future, won’t be able to train medical students who would become medical doctors as accreditation would be lost from paucity of needed specialists.

“The masses and entire citizenry would have been denied this dividend of democracy and good governance and this implies worsened health indices, decimated productivity and by implication, a poorer economy in this period of recession.”