Resident doctors at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, on Friday, in compliance with the strike called by their national body, boycotted work, leaving hundreds of patients stranded.

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), after the expiration of a 10-day notice to the FG, declared a five-day nationwide warning strike on Thursday.

Many patients at the accident and emergency unit of UCH were denied admission because there were no doctors to attend to them.

A security officer, who did not want his name published, said no patient had been admitted since he resumed duty early on Friday morning.

A patient at the General Out-Patients (GOP) Clinic, Kazeem Ajibade, said that a few patients were attended to early in the morning, while others were sent back around 8:00 a.m., the time fixed by the doctors to commence their strike.

President of the association at UCH, Gboyega Ajibola, stated that the strike is set to last for five days, as agreed upon at the last meeting of the National Executive Council of NARD.

“The demands that we have been talking about are about five, which are the unpaid 2025 medical residency training funds to over 2,000 of our members across the geopolitical zones of the country.

“The salary arrears of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) Review of 2023 and the unpaid 2024 equipment allowance,” the NARD president said.

Mr Ajibola also said that members of the association faced delayed recognition and the non-issuance of postgraduate certificates.

“We are calling on the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to have a roundtable discussion with NARD on this so that the certificate can be recognised.

“Also, the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, as we speak, is not issuing the certificate at all,” he lamented.

According to him, resident doctors in Kaduna and Oyo States have been facing the challenge of total neglect of necessary welfare packages.

“The resident doctors in Kaduna State have been on an industrial action since August 1, and their demand is that they should be paid on the 2024 CONMESS scale like their counterparts in other parts of Nigeria.

“Also, the LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, resident doctors have been on an indefinite strike since August 1, on the demand for the implementation of the minimum wage that has been implemented for other workers in Oyo State.

“They have not received the Medical Residency Training Fund at all. They are also claiming that they are short-staffed and need more manpower, thereby calling on the government to employ more resident doctors. We want a quick response to these demands so that we can continue to discharge our duties without distractions,” he said.

(NAN)