Crisis looms in Ondo hospitals as doctors give 7-day strike notice over hazard allowance, others

The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Ondo State has given Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa a seven-day ultimatum to resolve the challenges in the state health sector or face industrial disharmony.

They also demanded the implementation of the federal government’s approved hazard allowance for medical personnel in the state and other benefits.

The NMA stated these in a communiqué issued at the end of its Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) on Friday in Akure and read by its chairman in the state, Dr. Omosehin Adeyemi-Osowe.

The association said the notice became necessary as the health sector in the state had continued to fall below standard.

It also expressed concern about the brain drain in the sector with some units of the University of Medical Sciences in the state teaching hospitals lacking in medical personnel.

The affected units, according to NMA, include Orthopaedics, Burns and Plastic, Ear, Nose and Throat, Mental Health, and Paediatric Surgery in the hospitals.

READ ALSO: Gov Aiyedatiwa appoints SSG, chief of protocol in Ondo

The communiqué read: “Some weeks ago, eight doctors left the Obstetrics and Gynaecology unit at the state hospital for the same unit in another teaching hospital.

“The meeting notes with grave concern the non-implementation of the hazard allowance approved for doctors in the country in December 2021 which has been implemented for federal government doctors in the past 26 months and in some states.

“Ekiti State has been enjoying it for almost one year now.

“Ondo State Government approved it in August 2023 but it took over 60 days for it to be circularised.

“It was eventually done on October 23, 2023, with the implementation period backdated to October 2, 2023; it is now five months, yet no payment has been made by the state government.”

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