Date: 2017-05-14

Over 300 members of the Association of Resident Doctors, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Chapter, Kwara State, have vowed to embark on five days of strike each month until their demands for the payment of outstanding entitlements are met.

Chairman of the chapter, Dr. Ige Kolawole, told journalists in Ilorin, the capital, on Friday that members of the association were currently on a three-day warning strike.

The first phase of the strike, which he said commenced on Thursday, will end on Sunday.

Kolawole alleged that since 2014, when entitlements of doctors were increased nationwide, UITH had yet to pay their full entitlements.

According to him, they had each been shortchanged to the tune of about N100, 000 monthly; a situation he said would be reported to their national leadership. Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Abdulwaheed Olatinwo, denied the allegations, insisting that the balance owed the workers was about N20, 000 each.

He stated that the management of the hospital had compiled the arrears and communicated same to the appropriate quarters.

Olatinwo appealed to the striking doctors to be patient, adding that the management was working towards addressing the shortfall.

He said, "The management of the UITH wishes to acknowledge awareness of agitations of members of the hospital’s chapter of the ARD, over the non-payment of certain allowances of its members.

"The management is in the process of forwarding the outstanding liabilities on skipping and relativity allowances as requested by the Federal Ministry of Health. "While we await the approval and release of funds from relevant quarters, the management will appreciate continuous discharge of doctors’ duties to the patients."