Ondo doctors begin warning strike over ‘assault of colleague’

Doctors at the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital (UNIMEDTH), Ondo state, have embarked on a two-day warning strike over an “assault of one of their colleagues”.

A medical officer at the accident and emergency department of the hospital was reportedly assaulted on Tuesday by a relative of a patient.

Amotekun operatives in the state were said to have, however, arrested the man that assaulted the doctor.

The doctors, who staged a peaceful protest on Wednesday in Akure, were said to have described the attack as “barbaric” and called on the state government to provide adequate security to prevent a re-occurrence.

The doctors displayed placards with various inscriptions such as; ‘We are severely overworked’; ‘Stop attacking us’; and ‘UNIMEDTH doctors now working in fear of attack’.

Ibidapo Bolayemi, one of the doctors, asked the government to improve security around the hospital and also employ more health workers.

“It is rather pathetic what happened to one of us yesterday. An injury to one is an injury to all,” NAN quoted her as saying.

“Yesterday was the turn of a doctor. Tomorrow, who will it be? It is high time the government and the hospital management did something.

“And at this time, we are being overworked. Initially, we were 150 doctors, but now, we are barely 45, and you expect 45 doctors to perform very well?

“As a result of that, we get tired, we get exhausted and we are being overwhelmed.”

Another doctor, who preferred to remain anonymous, said they would be downing tools for 48 hours until the government responds to their demands.

“We are expressing our displeasure with the physical assault of one of our members by a patient’s relative,” the doctor said.

“It is quite unfortunate that this is where we are now. The state of the institution is not what it used to be because we are short-staffed. We are not going to add any form of assault to the problems we are currently facing.

“We are calling on the government to employ more doctors to reduce the workload. That is the genesis of these problems.”

Speaking on the development, Oluwole Ige, chief medical director (CMD) of UNIMEDTH, condemned the assault of the doctor, but expressed concern over the strike by the doctors.

“It is wrong for the relative of any patient to attack any health worker. It is not only barbaric, but senseless,” he said.

“The man who assaulted the doctor has been arrested by Amotekun and will be charged to court any moment from now.

“But the management is not pleased with the decision of the doctors to go on a warning strike. Their decision is wrong and not good for the health sector.”