For 32 days, resident doctors at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, have remained on strike over unresolved welfare and remuneration issues. Yet, beyond a few reports, the matter appears to have received remarkably little public attention, especially from the media.
This should concern every citizen of Oyo State. The doctors are demanding the implementation of the Professional Allowance Table, payment of outstanding Medical Residency Training Fund and settlement of six months of Minimum Wage arrears. They have also raised concerns about working conditions and manpower shortages.
What makes the situation particularly troubling is that the doctors had reportedly issued an eight-week ultimatum before resuming the industrial action. They have also acknowledged that the government made some efforts, including part-payment of the residency training fund, but say significant issues remain unresolved.
The question, therefore, is simple: why has a dispute involving doctors responsible for specialised healthcare been allowed to drag on for 32 days?
This is not merely a disagreement over allowances. LAUTECH Teaching Hospital is a referral centre providing specialised services, while its resident doctors are also undergoing specialist training. The doctors themselves have warned that continued loss of skilled personnel could threaten both residency training and the hospital’s capacity to provide specialised healthcare.
For an administration that has repeatedly spoken about healthcare development, the prolonged dispute casts shadow on the government’s claims.
Where is the sense of urgency? Where is the sustained public conversation? Where is the round-table engagement capable of producing a settlement acceptable to both the government and the doctors?
The silence surrounding the matter is difficult to understand, particularly when industrial disputes affecting healthcare workers ultimately affect ordinary citizens who depend on public hospitals.
The 2027 election season is already taking shape, and Oyo voters will inevitably compare competing visions for the future of the state. Senator Sharafadeen Alli, the APC governorship candidate, has made healthcare-worker welfare and retention part of his stated agenda. His published programme specifically identifies healthcare worker welfare and retention as a commitment, while his campaign declaration promises that workers’ salaries and wages will be paid when due and that training and retraining will be treated as priorities.
Alli is therefore ready to go beyond broad promises and make a clear commitment to the medical profession: that his administration will engage health workers directly, address legitimate outstanding obligations and maintain an open channel for negotiation whenever disagreements arise.
That is the kind of leadership that workers desire and they are sure to get such a benevolent leadership from Senator Sarafadeen Alli.
Governor Seyi Makinde appears not ready to demonstrate such leadership again. The LAUTECH doctors are already 32 days into their industrial action. The issue has been allowed to become another item on the long list of unresolved grievances.
The people of Oyo State deserve answers. The doctors deserve meaningful engagement. And the patients of LAUTECH Teaching Hospital deserve a functioning healthcare system.
