CMD’s posture on N6m fuels MDCAN’s strike in COOUTH

ONITSHA, Nigeria – Refusal by the Chief Medical Director of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojuckwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Amaku, Awka, Anambra state  to augment staff salaries  with N6 milliion has been  fingered as the major reason  members of Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) are still on strike.

A source who spoke to  our reporyer  said the state governor chief Willie Obiano had  paid N21million but that the CMD was expected to augment the salaries with just N6milliion.

The source who never wanted his name on print, stated that the CMD of COOUTH had refused  to use hospital Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR) to augment salaries, while MDCAN  members are insisting that he must augment  salaries with IGR before suspending the 39 days  strike.

The source who is  close to the hospital told  our reporter that MDCAN members  have vowed to continue with the strike action which has paralysed activities in the hospital until the CMD does the needful. According to the source, in efforts to persuade the CMD to augment the staff salaries with IGR, led to a meeting of stakeholders at the hospital on Friday where every entreaties made for him to see reason why he must use N6m to augment the salaries failed .

According to the source, some of  stakeholders who attended the meeting include senior professors and members  of MDCAN as well as some emeritus professors who were disturbed by the strike.

The source said that, MDCAN strike which started since  1st December 2019 is ongoing because of the  unbending posture of the CMD to augment salaries  with just N6million.

The source said that there was no teaching hospital in the country that is not augmenting staff salaries with IGR  and wondered why the CMD thinks differently.