By Daud Olatunji

ABEOKUTA—Activities at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta were, yesterday, paralysed as members of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) embarked on an indefinite strike over alleged non-implementation of the skipping of Consolidated Medical Salary Scale (CONMESS) for medical doctors.

Efforts to get the reaction of the hospital’s  Medical Director, Dr Akinwande Akinhanmi, proved abortive, yesterday, as he did not respond to the text messages and calls made to his mobile phone.

The doctors, in a statement jointly signed by the ARD President, Dr Walter Nzeakah , Dr Sewanu Awhangansi (General Secretary) and Dr Mojisola Adeniji (Public Relations Officer) , said they were only getting a fraction of their salaries with the non-implementation.

They flayed the hospital management under the leadership of the Medical Director, Dr Akinwande Akinhanmi , for “incessant failed promises” and vowed to sustain their strike till the authorities acceded to their demands.

According to them, the   strike is to protest the continued payment of half salaries by the hospital management in defiance of the  directive by the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole.

The resident doctors contended that the strike became imperative following the resolution of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) at the recent National Executive Council mandated ARD chapters where members were not on full salaries by the end of July 2016 to withdraw their services.

They said the directive for management of public health institutions to pay the CONMESS was issued by the Federal Government in December 2013 and became effective since 2014.

The doctors pointed out that their colleagues in Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta; Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos and the University College Hospital, Ibadan had started receiving their full CONMESS.