Posted on: Fri 05-04-2024

The Association of Resident Doctors, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday, declared that it had never suspended night-shift or embarked on strike as erroneously perceived by members of the public.

The PUNCH reports that the Joint Action Committee, a coalition of all hospital unions except the ARD and Medical and Dental Consultants of Nigeria of the institution, had instructed its members to reduce their work schedule by working between 8 am and 4 pm daily.

The JAC Chairman, Oladayo Olabampe, said the decision was to protest against the disconnection of UCH power supply by Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company over alleged N495m unpaid electricity bills.

However, ARD, in a statement by its President and General Secretary, John Oladapo and Gboyega Ajibola, respectively, in Ibadan, the state capital, said the association stood in solidarity with all health workers concerning the subpar working conditions.

The statement reads in part, “Our attention has been drawn to some publications in the media that have been misleading the public about the prolonged power outage at the University College Hospital. These reports have stated that “UCH doctors suspend night shift, begin strike Tuesday” or similar variations, which are untrue, not accurate and a distortion of the events.

“It has been widely reported that the IBEDC disconnected the power supply to the UCH due to a billing disagreement. As a result, patient care has been hampered, healthcare delivery has become suboptimal, and there has been an increased risk of hazard to all the hospital’s health workers.

“The ARD-UCH stands in solidarity with all health workers concerning the subpar working conditions. It is however important to let the public know that UCH doctors stand at their duty posts, providing essential care and service to those in need.” It added.

Meanwhile, the JAC Chairman, Olabampe, said the workers had decided to scale down their activities until electricity was restored, saying they would now work between only between 8 am and 4 pm.

The worker also threatened to go on a seven-day strike if the hospital was not reconnected before Tuesday, April 9

The JAC Chairman said, “We have started since Tuesday and we are not going back. The workers took this decision due to a power outage in the hospital. So, with this development, no one would be available to attend to patients in the evening at UCH.

“We would have even started since but we were only considering the condition of the patients who might fall victim to this.

“Up till now, light has not been restored. So, we have scaled down our activities. We are to work between 8 am and 4 pm every day. We have said that if the light is not restored as of Tuesday, we will scale down our activities and we have done that since Tuesday. That is the latest. We are now in the third week.”

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