LUTH’s Striking Resident Doctors Resume Duty

Striking resident doctors at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital today called off an indefinite
strike they started last week.

The doctors, members of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), said they called off the strike after their parent bodies intervened and also in the larger interest of their patients.

The president of the resident doctors, Adetunji Adenekan, revealed the development at a
press conference earlier today. He recalled the genesis of the strike following disputes over the application of personal income tax. He stated that the doctors had tried to resolve their disagreement with the management of LUTH, but resorted to a strike when a settlement could not be reached.

The association’s statement disclosed that there had been a series of meetings with the management since September. The meetings ended in a stalemate, the doctors’ ultimatums
as well as warning strikes were ignored, resulting in the decision to proceed on an indefinite strike.

The union accused the Joint Tax Board of double standards for first offering an interpretation of the tax law that matched the doctors’ position before reversing its interpretation later. The doctors’ statement insisted that, even though the doctors were resuming work, the association would continue to resist what its members perceive as an unjust application of the new tax law in the hospital. The association is considering a legal challenge of the law.