The Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association in Osun State, Dr. Tokunbo Olajumoke, has said medical doctors in the state are going through a lot of hardship as a result of irregular payment of their salaries and poor remuneration.
Olajumoke said this on Friday at a meeting held at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife which was part of the activities lined up for the 2016 Physician Week in Ife.
The NMA chairman said the nonpayment of the salaries of doctors for the period of their strike and the irregular payment of their wages were factors making it difficult for his members to pay their children’s school fees, pay their rents and meet other obligations.
He appealed to Governor Rauf Aregbesola to pay the outstanding salaries and pay more attention to the health sector in the interest of the well being of the people of the state.
Olajumoke called on stakeholders in the state to intervene for the sustainability of relative peace and industrial harmony in the health sector.
He said, “The welfare of our members in the employment of the state government in the last two years has been very challenging ranging from fractions and several months of unpaid salaries to victimisation and demotion among others.
“The association will continue to lobby, engage constructively and consult in other to ensure our members’ welfare.
“I appeal to stakeholders and respected citizens to assist on this matter for the sustainability of relative peace enjoyed in the health sector in our dear state.
“Doctors are undergoing serious hardship; there are some that are not able to pay the school fees of their children and house rent but we are still attending to patients.
“I must tell you that nobody wants to go on confrontation, but after you have tried every effort in the line of dialogue and lobbying you may adopt the last option which may be regrettable.”
The NMA chairman assured the people of the state of the readiness of the doctors to continue to work so as not to disrupt the industrial harmony but he said the governor must also fulfill his obligations to them in order to sustain the peace.
Olajumoke observed that two years after the passage of the National Health Act, the law was still not being implemented.
The guest speaker on the occasion, Dr. Callistus Akinleye of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osogbo, said there was an increase in non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes among others as a result of the current economic crisis.
SOURCE.. PUNCH
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