The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, has issued a 21-day ultimatum to the hospital’s management to address a range of unresolved welfare and workplace concerns affecting doctors across departments and cadres, warning that failure to act could result in industrial action.
The decision was announced in a communiqué issued following the association’s virtual emergency general meeting held on Friday in Ile-Ife. The communiqué, signed by ARD President, Dr. Jesunbo Martins, and General Secretary, Dr. Toyyeb Oladipo, highlighted concerns spanning staff welfare, accommodation shortages, and identity card policies.
The association expressed dissatisfaction with what it described as inadequate call-duty meal coverage amid worsening manpower shortages and increasing workloads. According to the doctors, repeated appeals to management for the full implementation of welfare measures have not received the desired response.
Through the communiqué, the ARD also criticised a directive imposing a ₦2,500 charge for the issuance and renewal of staff identity cards, describing the policy as exploitative, unjustified, and inconsistent with standard public-sector administrative practices.
The association further opposed the compulsory attachment of identity cards to official correspondence, arguing that the directive could infringe privacy rights and confidentiality protections enshrined in the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.
On accommodation, the doctors decried the worsening shortage of housing within the Ife Hospital Unit. They alleged that residential quarters vacated by resident doctors had been abandoned by management without renovation, rehabilitation, reallocation, or any productive institutional use.
The ARD called for the immediate expansion of call-duty meal allocations, the suspension of identity card charges, the reversal of the correspondence directive, and the urgent rehabilitation of residential quarters previously occupied by resident doctors.
The association warned that should management fail to address the concerns within 21 days, doctors may resort to lawful union action, including peaceful protests and other legitimate industrial measures.
