Reasons for UCH resident doctors’ decision to commence three-day warning strike

The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, has stated that their decision to go on a three-day warning strike was due to an alleged assault on one of its members by a relative of a patient in their facility.

Resident doctors at the health institution, organized under the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), commenced a three-day warning strike on Thursday.

In a statement released by the chairperson and secretary of the UCH ARD, John Oladapo and Sunday Adegbite, respectively, the association emphasized that assaults on any member would not be tolerated.

The association also requested a public apology to be published in two major national newspapers as part of the conditions for suspending the three-day industrial action.

The doctors insisted on the improvement of the UCH security framework to ensure the safety of their members against any form of threats to their lives.

“On Sunday, one of our members was subjected to a deliberate, premeditated assault by a patient’s relative. The doctor was attending to a sickle cell patient in a painful crisis at the emergency department when two men entered the consulting room and physically assaulted him,” the statement explained.

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“The patient’s mother, who tried to intervene, was also attacked. As the doctor tried to escape, the men pursued and assaulted him. The hospital security officers intervened and rescued our member, although he sustained injuries and emotional distress,” the statement detailed.

The doctors disclosed that the assailants, friends of a patient’s deceased father, were waiting for the death certificate while settling bills.

“Our member, receiving a call from the emergency department about another sickle cell patient, informed the patient’s father of the emergency, sought permission to attend to the urgent case, and handle the death certificate later. However, the assailants became enraged, claiming the doctor was wasting their time and proceeded to attack him,” the statement concluded.