About 105 medical doctors have resigned en masse in Ondo State over salary cuts and a backlog of unpaid wages in the past year.
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) disclosed this in a statement signed by the State Chairman, Dr Stella Adegbehingbe, and the State Secretary, Dr Olorunfemi Owa.
The State’s NMA decried the situation, describing it as so unfortunate that medical doctors in the State had left the employment of the Hospital Management Board without replacement in the last few months.
Advertisement
To order your copy, send a WhatsApp message to +1 317 665 2180
The statement read in part: “We have it on good records that about 105 medical doctors have resigned their employment from the Teaching Hospital in the last year alone.
“Ondo State has not been able to engage requisite numbers of House Officers since 2019. This has made our work almost impossible because this group of Doctors has a peculiar role in Health service delivery.”
NMA said that “It is troubling to note that only three House Officers are left in the service of the Ondo State Government across the three senatorial zones in the state.
“There is no gainsaying that the ongoing laudable efforts at having a Contributory Health Insurance Scheme in the state can only be successful if the urgent issue of manpower need is adequately addressed.”
Doctors in the State had earlier complained over the salary cut and unpaid wages by the state government, adding that their February salary was received in June.
The State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, in a statement had suggested part-payment of salaries for all categories of workers in the state, adding that the medical doctors were not excluded. But the NMA had insisted on receiving their full salary despite the Governor’s suggestion.
ConclaveNG