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 willno 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 weare 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 fightfor 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.