Medical doctors in Osun State yesterday embarked on a street protest over non-payment of their salary
arrears.
They called on the House of Assembly to intervene before the matter degenerates.
The doctors under the aegis of the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) moved from their state secretariat on Gbongan Road to the House of Assembly.
The protesters are demanding payment of their outstanding salaries by the government.
The doctors, who have been on strike since September 28, last year, are also asking the government to accede to their other demands before the strike escalates.
Carrying placards with various inscriptions such as “Save our Souls”; “Pay our salaries, doctors are suffering,” among others, the doctors were received by the Deputy Speaker, Akintunde Adegboye.
The doctors expressed worries that the lawmakers have not intervened in the crisis in health sector since it started.
The NMA chairman, Dr Suraj Ogunyemi, lamented that his members have faced serious challenges due to the non-payment of their salaries since September.
According to him, doctors in the private sector are planning to join the strike, if nothing is done.
But the government described as blackmail the striking doctors’ protest, saying that the Rauf Aregbesola-led administration has made “more than enough concessions” for them to shift their positions.
A statement by the governor’s media aide, Semiu Okanlawon, called on Nigerians to “objectively examine” the issues involved in the demands of the doctors and see whether they are in tune with the realities of the current worsening global and national economic situation and how it affects Osun”.
The government said the doctors are demanding the “impossible,” noting that under Aregbesola it has offered the “best condition of service” to all its workers, including the doctors.
