Staff of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, took to the streets of Ogbomoso on Tuesday to protest the sack of 256 staff and deployment of 300 other workers of the teaching hospital into the Oyo State civil service.
The protest that took off in front of the hospital took the angry workers to areas such as Taki, palace of the Soun of Ogbomoso as well as the palace of the Onpetu Ijeru.
DAILY POST learnt on Wednesday that the workers down tool in August last year while resident doctors joined on November 24, a situation which made the state government to stop their salaries.
Chairman, Nurses and Midwives Association of Nigeria, Ogbomoso unit, Mr Jaiyeoba Adebayo while speaking on the protest informed that the whole thing began in January 2015 when the state government decided to reduce the hospital subvention by half.
Adebayo said “We got information that about 256 members of staff have been disengaged from the service of the hospital while 299 have been transferred to the Oyo State civil service commission and so, we decided to hold a peaceful protest.
“The names of the affected staff were pasted at the entrance of the administrative department last week Wednesday.”
Also speaking, spokesman of the Joint Health Staff Union (JOHESU), Mr Lawal Abiodun added that the leadership of the union was expected to meet later in the week to deliberate on the situation.
State Commissioner for Information, Culture, and Tourism, Mr Toye Arulogun, however, in his reaction declared that the development was part of the plan to reposition the hospital.
Arulogun maintained that, “It is part of government’s holistic restructuring efforts of the hospital which includes an increase in monthly subvention”.
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