By DORCAS ELUSOGBON

The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, has issued a 21-day ultimatum to the hospital’s management over unresolved welfare concerns affecting doctors across departments and cadres.

This is contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the association’s virtual emergency general meeting on Friday in Ile-Ife.

The communiqué was jointly signed by the President and General Secretary of the ARD, Jesunbo Martins and Toyyeb Oladipo, respectively.

According to a copy of the communiqué made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the association expressed dissatisfaction with inadequate call-duty meal coverage amid worsening manpower shortages.

It also decried increasing workloads and what it described as repeated but unheeded appeals to hospital management for comprehensive implementation of welfare measures.

The association further condemned a directive imposing a N2,500 charge for the issuance and renewal of staff identity cards, describing the policy as exploitative, unjustified, and inconsistent with established public service administrative practices.

The communiqué also opposed the compulsory attachment of identity cards to official correspondence, citing potential violations of privacy rights and confidentiality provisions under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

In addition, the association decried worsening accommodation shortages within the Ife Hospital Unit.

It also alleged that management had abandoned residential quarters vacated by resident doctors without renovation, rehabilitation, reallocation, or any productive institutional use.

The ARD demanded the immediate expansion of call-duty meal allocations, suspension of identity card charges, reversal of the correspondence directive, and urgent rehabilitation of residential quarters vacated by resident doctors within the institution.

It warned that failure by management to address the concerns within 21 days could compel doctors to embark on lawful union actions, including peaceful protests and other legitimate industrial measures.(NAN)