Ondo State has sacked the resident doctors at the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital (UNIMETH).
The state announced their sack in a letter, adding that they are suspended from the institution’s residency training programme from August 1st, 2020.
It urged all Resident doctors directly employed by the hospital to seek continuation of their programme in other institutions where there is an ongoing training program.
The sacking of the Resident doctors might not be unconnected to the last week’s strike action recently embarked upon by the doctors.
Spokesman of the Ondo ARD, Taiwo Olagbe, listed their demands to include the provision of PPE and other security measures to save their members from COVID-19, payment of outstanding arrears from September 2019 to May 2020, payment of 50 per cent COVID-19 allowance amongst others.
The letter announcing the suspension of the residency programme dated June 23 and signed by Director of Administration of UNIMETH, Adeeyo Babatunde, said it was to allow the hospital focused on service delivery in order to combat COVID-19 outbreak without the distraction of agitation from the Resident Doctors.
The letter said some Resident doctors might be considered for re-admission when the programme recommenced.
Chief Medical Director of UNIMEDTH, Dr Oluwole Ige, blasted the Residents doctors saying they were more interested in unionism than a commitment to work.
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Dr Ige Ige said the Residents doctors were the most disruptive group to the growth of the hospital despite earning the best pay package among another group of doctors in the hospital.
He spoke at the commissioning of the first dialysis centre in Akure, the State capital built by Lions Club International, District 404A1.
Dr Ige stated that the good things happening at the hospital were being overshadowed by the constant agitation of the resident doctors.
According to him, “The Resident doctors earn the best pay package among the four groups of doctors in the hospital with the additional benefit of training and advancing to be a consultant. That has been the most disruptive group to the growth of the hospital.
“They have exaggerated and deliberately distorted the issues of their wage to the extent of putting the hospital management and government into disrepute.
“The training programme might be suspended until such a time that it will be conducive to train without rancour.”
Dr.Ige stated the cost of dialysis in the centre was the cheapest in the region and as such the common man would not need to travel outside Akure for renal treatment.
District Governor of Lions Clubs, Adekunle Adedipe, said the renal centre was built with funding from the Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF) and the Ondo State Government.
Adedipe said they opted to build the dialysis centre after carrying out a needs assessment in various communities and discovered that Akure lacked functional dialysis centre despite the rise in renal ailments.
He stated that further findings revealed that renal patients in critical conditions were ferried to Ondo town or Owo for treatment.
He said the LCIF provided take-off grant of $106,533 and supported with N10m from the Ondo State Government.
Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu who commissioned dialysis centre disclosed that the centre would be run by a private consortium for effective service delivery.
Akeredolu stated that Adedipe was committed to donating a life-saving project to the state during his one year stay as District Governor.
He said the state hospital would soon commence renal transplant.
Dr Olagbe described their sacking as a joke that cannot hold any water and could crumble the health sector in the state.
Olagbe said comments from the CMD were regrettable and unfortunate stating that their agitations were genuine because of non-payment of salários and arrears.
He said plans were on to slash their salaries from June.
