Medical doctors in Osun State are holding a rally to protest the nonpayment of their salaries by the state government.
The doctors, dressed in lab coats started the protests at OSAMDO House and moved from there to the House of Assembly where they submitted their protest letter to the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Akintunde Adegboye, who came out to receive them.
The doctors said they had not been paid since October, 2015, adding that the state government paid them stipends that were not up to half of their salaries before the payment was stopped in September.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association in the state, Dr. Suraj Ogunyemi, led the doctors, who defied the scorching sun to march through the major street to lay their protest letter with the lawmakers.
The protesters, who were armed with placards with different inscriptions, asked the governor to account for how the bailout fund given the state by the Central Bank of Nigeria was spent.
Some of the placards read, “Doctors are suffering, patients are dying”; “Aregbesola, do the needful”; “Where is Osun bailout?” and “Ongoing project….unpaid salaries”.
The NMA chairman said, “Doctors salaries have not been paid since October, 2015 and before this they were only paying stipends. We say no to this!
“Another issue is the unfriendly tax system introduced by the Federal Government; no state has implemented this except Osun. This was quickly implemented despite the state government’s refusal to implement the new salary structure introduced by the same FG.
The NMA chairman said the sympathy strike planned all doctors of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife would commence on Wednesday if nothing was done to avert this.
Ogunyemi stated further that the strike could spread to all private hospitals in the state and to all hospitals in the South West if nothing was done to address the issues raised by the striking doctors.
“The sympathy strike will affect all doctors in the Federal Government owned hospitals in the state. It may spread to all private hospitals in the state and even to hospitals in the South West,” he added.
The doctors, who initially refused to have a dialogue with the lawmakers, later heeded the plea of the NMA chairman and went inside the Assembly complex for talks with the legislators. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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ReplyDeleteThisan has led Osun state to become a failed state and this is what apc will do to the whole nation- Nigeria.It is sad
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