Four days into the strike embarked upon by resident doctors of the Universitu of Port Harcourt Teaching Teaching Hopital, the Joint Health sector Union chapter of the hospital has called out its members to join the doctors strike from, mid-night yesterday.The President of the union, Christian Awoebi, who condimed the commencement of the strke, saud that the action was due to issues bordering on unpaid earned allowances of workers for more than four years.

He alleged that the management of the Teaching Hospital lied when it said that the union members have been paid their full entitlements, saying that the management of the hospital must apologise to them and publicly confiem the arrears being owed them before they could go into any negotiation with them. 

"They owe us arrears of allowances from 2010 to 2013 and then part of our salaries for February and December 2013 as well as January 2014.

He appealed to the patients of the hosital who would suffer as a result of the strike to bear with the striking workers. "The UPTH management are maltreating its workers and have gone on air to say that they do not owe us," He said that the strike would continue until they got all the arrears owed them. 

Last Thursday, resident doctors at the UPTh again embarked on indedinite strike for the second time within a few months. The President of the Association of Resident Doctors of the hospital, Dr. Dan Jumbo, said that the decision to embark on the strike followed the failure of the management of the hospital to address issues raised by the doctors. 

He called on the doctores not to back-slide in the strike action as there would be stiff penalty for any member who failed to comply with the strike order. 

Dr. Jumbo said: "The hospital management owes us part of our salaries for January and February last year and we have not been paid salaries for December last year and January, this year. Also the management went ahead to sack a lot of doctors saying that they do not haave enough noney to pay. The Chief Medical Director (CMD) had agreed that the wholw salaries were sent from Abuja 100%. The question now is why he is paying us our salaries over the months in percentage.

They have not paid us our update and examination allowances. The CMD has refused to pay.