Osun doctors protest nonpayment of six months salaries

The Association of Resident Doctors at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Osogbo on Tuesday staged a public protest over nonpayment of their six months salaries by the Osun State Government. The doctors, who were armed with placards marched peacefully through some streets in Osogbo to the Osun State House of Assembly while condemning the refusal of the state Governor Rauf Aregbesola to make payment of workers including doctors a priority. Some of the placards read, ‘ Pay doctors’ salaries; ” Doctors are hungry and we are being owed six months salaries. The President of the ARD, LAUTECH, Osogbo Dr. Olalekan Ajayi, while addressing journalists during the protest lamented the nonpayment of doctors’ salaries for the last six months. He said, ” We are being owed six months salaries. Despite this we are discharging our duties to the people. We cannot continue to work without pay. ” We are hungry!, We want the governor to address the issue of backlog of salaries being owed doctors and other categories of workers.” Some of the medical doctors who are observing their one year internship programme at the hospital also lamented the crisis caused by the nonpayment of doctors salaries. The Nigeria Medical Association in the state had on May 1, accused the governor of deliberately punishing doctors by refusing to pay their salaries. The Chairman of NMA Action Committee in Osun State, Dr. R.A. Adebayo and Dr. Adeola Ajibare, said in a letter written to the governor, that it was unfortunate that the governor, having collected allocation up to March, 2015, had refused to pay doctors and other categories of workers. The letter read in part, “Despite the non-payment of six months salaries to doctors and other civil servants in Osun, contractors and political office holders have been the beneficiaries of the available revenue accrued to our state from the federation account. “Our association therefore concluded that the non-payment of six months salaries to our members as well as other civil servants in our dear state is not a matter of government inability but unwillingness to pay.” In a similar vein, the Medical and Dental Consultant Association of Nigeria at LAUTECH had also condemned the nonpayment of doctors’ salaries. The chairman of MDCAN, Dr. Kassim Adebayo and his secretary, Dr. Tokunbo Olajumoke, in a letter written to the governor in April condemned the nonpayment of their salaries. The doctors stated that they had given the government an ultimatum and would not hesitate to obey the directive of the national body of the association at the expiration of the ultimatum. The letter read, ” Despite not declaring any strike, we condemn the nonpayment of salaries of workers in the employment of LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, in the last six months and the non remittance of deductions from workers salaries even prior to the non payment of salaries.