Aregbesola withdraws sack threat to striking doctors

Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, may have withdrawn the theat to sack all doctors in state owned hospitals who have been on strike since September 28.

Our correspondent observed that the strike was still on Monday and the doctors said they  could not be frightened by the threat, saying they earned  one quarter of the salaries of their colleagues  in other state in the county. But they said that despite  the meagre pay, they were being forced to pay double the taxes charged their colleagues who were better paid.

Some of the doctors, who spoke to our correspondent in Osogbo on Monday said they had yet to receive letter of termination  of appointment or any memo that they had been sacked.

The chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Osun State, Dr. Suraj Ogunyemi, when contacted said he had not been told thaht the scam threat had been carried out.

The NMA had dared the governor to carry out the threat and they also threatened to frustrate the governor’s alleged plan to bring in doctors from Cuba to take over from their Nigerian colleagues.

The Chairman of the Osun State Association of Medical and Dental Officers, Dr. Isiaka Adekunle, when contacted also said he had not seen any sack letter.

He said, “I have not received any sack letter but we are still watching. We are in touch with our members and we have not been told that any of them has been sacked.”

When contacted, the Head of Service in the state, Mr. Sunday Owoeye, tactically declined to comment on the issue.

He said, ” I am not available now. Please get back to me by next Friday.”

The doctors embarked on the current strike to reject half salaries which the government was paying.

The state governor had on December 18 given the doctors a seven day ultimatum that any doctors who failed to resume  on December 25th should consider themselves sacked.

The ultimatum was later extended to last Friday and the governor said at a forum that he would implement civil service  rule on this if the doctors failed to resume on Friday, January 8.

The Punch