Resident doctors at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, have protested against alleged poor working conditions, staff shortages and unpaid wage arrears.
The protest, staged on Wednesday by members of the Association of Resident Doctors, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, was aimed at drawing the attention of the Oyo State Government and hospital management to the challenges confronting medical personnel at the facility.
In a statement jointly signed by the association’s President, Dr Mustapha Adedapo, and Public Relations Officer, Dr Abdulrahman Fofie, the doctors said prolonged staffing shortages and outstanding payments were affecting their welfare and professional responsibilities.
The doctors said, “We took an oath to save lives, but today, we are forced to take a stand to save our own professions and dignity.”
They listed unpaid minimum wage arrears, unfulfilled allowance commitments, inadequate manpower and deteriorating call rooms among their major concerns.
According to them, the situation has placed additional pressure on the available doctors and could affect the quality of healthcare delivered to patients.
The association stressed that its demands were not for special privileges but for decent working conditions and proper support for medical residency training.
“We are not asking for luxuries; we are demanding basic human dignity, fair compensation, and the proper funding of medical residency training,” the doctors said.
The protesters appealed to the Oyo State Government, Governor Seyi Makinde, hospital management and other relevant authorities to urgently intervene and resolve the issues.
They said, “Fix the system so we can return to doing what we love—saving lives.”
The development comes amid previous concerns by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors over inadequate manpower at the teaching hospital.
NARD had reported that some resident doctors who left the institution were not replaced, while doctors who completed their residency programmes were also not immediately replaced.
It identified Anaesthesia, Chemical Pathology and Haematology as some of the specialties affected by the manpower shortage.
NARD had also called for the payment of outstanding minimum wage, promotion and accoutrement allowance arrears, implementation of the new professional allowance for doctors, release of the Medical Residency Training Fund and rehabilitation of doctors’ call rooms and other on-call facilities.
