Lagos doctors kick against non-payment of salary

Doctors under the aegis of the Medical Guild staged a
protest at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital,
Ikeja, over the non-payment of their August and
September salaries.
The doctors, who were seen carrying placards around
LASUTH on Friday are also protesting non-
employment of resident doctors by the hospitals’
management, casualisation and victimisation of doctors.
The Chairman of the guild, Dr. Biyi Kufo, appealed to
the state government to accede to the demands of the
doctors in order to prevent another round of strike in the
state.
He said, “We want the government to pay those withheld
salaries of August and September 2014, to stop employing
doctors as casual workers, which they have been doing
since 2012.
“These doctors on contract employment have no career
path, they can be dismissed at the slightest notice and we
want them to resume training of specialists at LASUTH.
“They are no longer employing doctors for specialist
training and given a few years, there will no longer be
specialists to render services to Lagosians.
“The government continues to victimise doctors and we
want them to stop, “ he added.
The chairman noted that the protest was held to bring to
the notice of the public the various acts of victimisation and
intimidation against doctors under the employ of the state
government.
He said, “When we go on strike, the people who suffer
are the public and that is the reason we are bringing this
protest to the public space.
“We did this in the hope that, perhaps this time, things will
change, “he added.
The Vice Chairman of the guild, Dr. Oseni Saliu, also
said that doctors would continue to fight for their rights
and urged the public to appeal to the government in order
to avoid further crisis.
He said, “We are ready to render services to our people
and we are not ready for anybody to subjugate us and we
will always fight for our rights.
“If the government continues to push us and if there is
need for action, we will take the action.”
The President, Association of Resident Doctors,
LASUTH chapter, Dr. Abdusalam Moruf, said that
there had been no residency training programme at the
hospital since 2011.
He said, “ LASUTH has been turned into a general
hospital because residents are not being employed and as
such no one is graduating to become consultants.
“There are very few specialists to attend to cases such as
hypertension, diabetes, stroke and some complex surgeries
because teaching hospitals are not training enough. Such
cases will have to be treated outside the country.”
The president urged the government to employ more
resident doctors to address the imminent shortage of
experts.
All attempt to speak with the Chief Medical Director of
LASUTH, Prof. Wale Oke, proved abortive as our
correspondent was told he was on his annual leave.