UCH joins strike, says lost 17 doctors, staff to COVID-19

Dr Temitope Hussein, president of University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan branch of the Nigerian Association of Resident Physicians (NARD), says the association has lost 17 doctors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hussein, who justified the association’s reasons for joining the national NARD strike, explained that the families of the deceased doctors had not yet benefited from the death insurance scheme while in service.

According to him, the striking doctors were also protesting against the non-payment of the salaries of some of their members across the country and demanding an upward revision of the risk allowance, among other things.

He denounced the agony that its members across the country had had to endure for three months now without pay, despite their uninterrupted service to the nation.

Hussein said that despite the three-month window given to the federal government to review the risk pay for healthcare workers, the risk pay had remained at a paltry sum of five thousand naira per month.

He explained that the strike followed the expiration of the 60-day ultimatum given to the federal government on January 25.