Medical doctors working at th Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, yesterday dared the sack threat by Osun state government, describing it as a huge joke.
Medical doctors in Osun state medical facilities have been on strike since Monday, 28th September, to press home their demands for implementation of a special salary scale for doctors code-named Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, CONMESS and relativity payment among others.
But the state government in a statement issued by Mr. Sunday Olajide, the permanent secretary, Human Resources and Capacity Building at the weekend, gave the striking doctors till Friday, December 25, 2015 to return to work or be sacked.
Addressing newsmen in the premises of the Teaching Hospital yesterday, the chairman, Association of Resident Doctors, Lautech Teaching Hospital, Dr. Owolabi Adeyinka, said the allegation against the doctors that they are being paid salaries, despite being on strike, was untrue.
According to him, resident doctors were last paid full salary in June, stressing that since then, they have been receiving stipend that was not even up to half of their monthly pay.
Owolabi said the state government, despite not paying its doctors with the federal government approved adjusted CONMESS and relativity payment, it has been using a tax table meant for the state paying CONMESS to tax them.
He added that members of the association have been funding update of their various local and international courses, national examinations and outside postings, which according to him should be the responsibility of their employee.
He insisted that Association of Resident Doctors, ARD, was not affiliated to any labour movement, hence no union could sign any agreement on their behalf on issues of its members welfare.
