By James Sowole
Resident doctors at the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Ondo and Akure complexes in Ondo State Saturday made good their threat to boycott attending to patients until their salaries are paid by the state government.
A visit to the Akure complex revealed that the resident doctors did not show up in consulting rooms leaving only consultants on duty to attend to hundreds of patients on admission and outpatients.
Although the teaching hospital could boast of over 40 consultants, the absence of the resident doctors has been putting much pressure on the consultants who normally attend to patients on request.
The action of the resident doctors is already causing discomfort for patients as families of patients were complaining of neglect of their wards.
Most outpatients, who spoke to newsmen at the Akure complex, blamed the state governor, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, for not monitoring the operations of the hospital management.
They noted that the governor should have guided the payment of salaries of all workers at both teaching hospital complexes just as he did for the civil servants in the state.
Relations of some patients lamented that they could have moved their relations on admission to private hospitals but for financial constraints.
The Chairman, Media Committee, Association of Resident Doctors, UNIMEDTHC, Dr Taiwo Olagbe, had during a protest on Friday declared that all their arrears and backlog of salaries must be cleared before they could return to work.
They also said all their remuneration must be paid directly into their accounts without any intermediary.
However, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Wahab Adegbenro, had on Friday said the doctors would start receiving their salaries by Monday.
