LUTH Resident Doctors embarks on an Indefinite Strike action.

The Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) chapter of the Association of
Resident Doctors (ARD) have embarked on an indefinite strike.

The strike which is sequel to a 21-day ultimatum and 3-day warning strike,
which ended on Wednesday, June 17, was embarked on in protest of the
working conditions at the hospital.

According to President of the association, Dr. Ramon Moronkola, "the purpose
of the strike is not to punish the patients, but to press home some legitimate
demands."

He added that the association was compelled to embark on the strike after
several appeals to the management of the institution yielded no positive
response.

He however said consultants and some health workers were still attending to
patients, but the association needed to send out a message because they were
tired of giving haphazard services to the public.
Said Moronkola,

"Some individuals are running this institution any how they like; they would not
do this were it to be their private practices.We have bent backwards severally
to ensure that we continue service delivery, however, when the person at the
helm of affairs thinks that we are wasting our time, then the public should task
them."

Moronkola said the group was demanding for good working conditions which
include making the environment conducive, as well as the implementation of the
‘skipping’ structure as directed by the Federal Government.

He said there have been several instances where doctors have been harassed
by patients’ relatives for non-delivery or delayed delivery of some services
without knowing it is an institutional problem.

“Doctors have been stagnated for years; and on the skipping, since the 2013
directives by the Federal Government, the management of LUTH has refused to
obey" he said.

Lamenting the infrastructural and personnel situation in the hospital, Moronkola
called on the government in investigate things rather than allow the hospital be
at the mercy of some individuals.

Meanwhile LUTH’s Acting Chief Medical Director, Prof. Chris Bode , reacting to
news of the strike said every industrial action had its pros and cons.

He, however, noted that strikes were not the best ways to resolve challenges,
especially when they had become incessant. He appealed to the group to be
patient as the new administration would sort out many issues once they are
fully settled.