The management of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital has rejected the demand by its striking resident doctors for free meals during call hours and night duty, insisting that such a benefit is not contained in the Federal Government-approved conditions of service for workers in federal tertiary health institutions.

The hospital said the ongoing industrial action by the Association of Resident Doctors, LUTH chapter, was based on demands that management neither has the legal authority nor financial capacity to grant.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Wasiu Lanre Adeyemo, the management said it had held two rounds of meetings with the expanded executive of the resident doctors’ association since the strike began last Monday but no resolution had been reached.

“The provision of free meals to doctors on call or on night duty is not part of the conditions of service approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria for resident doctors or any other category of staff in federal tertiary health institutions,” the statement read.

The management said its position was also backed by a collective agreement reached about seven years ago between the hospital’s previous administration and all recognised unions, including the resident doctors.

According to the statement, the parties had agreed at the time that providing free meals for staff on call and night duty was neither realistic nor sustainable and instead resolved that a befitting cafeteria should be built to provide affordable meals for workers.

It warned that granting the demand of the resident doctors alone would amount to discrimination against other categories of staff, trigger fresh industrial disputes and impose a recurring financial burden the hospital could not sustain.

The hospital disclosed that the long-promised cafeteria was eventually completed and commissioned in October 2025 by the current administration after funds were sourced for the project.

It added that subsidised meal prices had been negotiated with the cafeteria operator, while a monitoring committee was established to ensure compliance with agreed pricing and food quality standards.

The statement further noted that doctors, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory scientists on duty could also request meals directly from the cafeteria under a special arrangement.

The management said the hospital also provides free meals to all staff on duty during six major public holidays every year, including Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Easter, Eid-el-Fitr, Eid-el-Kabir and Independence Day.

It described the initiative as a welfare package funded by the hospital and not a contractual entitlement.

On accommodation, the hospital said renovation of the residents’ quarters was about 60 per cent completed, adding that the project commenced before the ongoing strike as part of efforts to improve doctors’ welfare.

The management maintained that the resident doctors were the only union opposed to the existing welfare arrangement.

“It is a matter of public record that every other union in LUTH is satisfied with the current welfare arrangement—a functional, subsidised cafeteria complemented by six free-meal holidays annually. The Association of Resident Doctors is the sole union rejecting this arrangement,” it stated.

While expressing regret over the disruption of patient care at the hospital, the management reiterated that it could not approve demands outside the Federal Government-approved conditions of service or breach an existing collective agreement.

It appealed to the leadership of the resident doctors to suspend the strike and return to the negotiating table in the interest of patients requiring critical and life-saving medical care.

“Management remains fully committed to the welfare of every category of staff within the limits of available resources and the framework of the conditions of service approved by the Federal Government,” the statement added. (Nigerian Tribune)