UCH doctors start strike over order to vacate their residences

Members of the Association of Resident Doctors at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, on Tuesday, withdrew their services from the institution to protest an order from the management for them to quit their quarters for three months.

The managers of the Hospital said the relocation was for a planned renovation of the staff quarters.

NEXT, however, gathered that but for some yet-to-be-resolved issues between the doctors and the management of the teaching hospital, the relocation order would not have necessarily led to a strike.

The two parties were said to have disagreed over the management's recent decision to increase the rents and utility bills payable by the doctors in their respective quarters; a move which the doctors opposed and said were unrealistic.

The new charge is between 400 and 700 per cent higher than what the doctors are paying currently.

The strike has affected activities at the hospital, as patients on appointment could not get medics to attend to them while those in the wards and casualty section were left to their fate.

A source said several meetings held between officers representing the Resident doctors and the management to address the issues at stake ended in a deadlock. Things, however, went out of hand on Tuesday when the doctors were asked to park out of their quarters for three months to allow the UCH management carry out renovation.

Nowhere to go

Because of the unresolved issues, the doctors were said to have interpreted that order as a smart way of imposing the new fees on them. They also complained that the management's notice was too short for them to arrange alternative accommodation in the town, as well as raise the money to pay for the rent.

"This is not a national action. It is a local issue between us and the management of the hospital. The idea is to cow us into paying the new rate.

Even if they want us to pay new rate, where do they want us to be staying between now and January when the supposed renovation is expected to end?" asked one of the doctors. "Some of us are not from this state. Some are from the East while some are from the North and you are saying we should quit; quit for where?"

Yinka Atilola, president of the resident doctors association at the institution, was not available for comment yesterday and he could not be reached on his mobile phone. His deputy, Adewole Badru, declined to comment on the matter.

The institution's Public Relations Officer, Toye Akinrinola, said the management is already looking into the demands and expects the doctors to call off the strike.

"We got their demand and the management has looked into it. I think we have resolved the crisis and we expect them to call off the strike immediately," Mr. Akinrinola said.