The Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Prof. Temitope Alonge, has said that the on-going strike embarked upon by resident doctors of the teaching hospital will end by the end of November.

While addressing journalists at the opening ceremony of the hospital’s 56th anniversary celebration in Ibadan on Monday,    Alonge exonerated the management of UCH of any blame in the on-going strike. He explained that the doctors’ grouse had to do with issues relating to the Federal Government’s policy.

“The issue is a national issue but before the end of November money will be released for the payment of the resident doctors and hopefully they will resume work,” he said.

The UCH branch of the National Association of Resident Doctors commenced their strike about two months ago because of the delay in the payment of their four-month salary, but Alonge said the delay was caused by the need to cleanse the Integrated Personnel Payment Information System in order to revalidate and update the payment data system.

He said, “There is a new payment structure called IPPIS. There were a lot of debates on whether to include resident doctors and ordinary consultants on IPPIS platform or not when it was introduced. But while the debate was raging, some of them were captured in the system while others were not. The resident doctors have a short career of at least five years here. During that period, there will be changes in the salary structure.

“There was the need to take some of the past resident doctors out of the new IPPIS platform because if we do not inform the Federal Government of their status, they will remain in the payment roll even when they have completed their residency term with us. It is the process by the Federal Government that delays the payment of their salaries.”

He also said that several efforts had been considered as alternative source of getting money to pay the doctors but the hospital had no power to exceed certain limits.

 

“The issue has nothing to do with the hospital management. The doctors have suggested that we should go out of our way to look for money but we don’t have that power as a government agency. It is criminal for a government agency to borrow money for any purpose,” he said.