Pressure is mounting on the Lagos State Government to resolve the industrial dispute at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, after the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, backed resident doctors taking industrial action over unresolved welfare and remuneration issues.
NARD on Monday urged the state government to urgently address the dispute, which involves demands relating to specialist allowances, salary and promotion arrears and other conditions affecting doctors at the tertiary hospital.
The national body’s intervention increases the significance of what had largely been a dispute between the LASUTH Association of Resident Doctors and the Lagos authorities.
Specialist Allowance at Centre of Dispute
A major issue involves the Specialist Allowance for Grade Level 14 resident doctors, particularly Senior Registrar I doctors.
LASUTH resident doctors had earlier given the government a seven-day ultimatum to implement the allowance and settle outstanding salary and promotion arrears.
According to the doctors, the dispute dates back several months.
The association staged a three-day warning strike in June over demands including implementation of a revised Professional Allowance Table, specialist allowances, salary shortfalls, promotion arrears and progress on new resident doctors’ accommodation and training facilities.
Several meetings subsequently took place between the doctors and government officials.
Sanwo-Olu Approved Professional Allowance Table
One of the most significant meetings took place with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on July 17, when the governor approved implementation of the Professional Allowance Table for resident doctors and other doctors employed by Lagos State.
The doctors, however, say the specialist allowance they expected for Senior Registrar I personnel was not reflected in August salaries.
LASUTH-ARD President Dr Akerele Alaba Gabriel said the association had previously been led to believe the allowance had been incorporated into the Professional Allowance Table forwarded for the governor’s approval.
The association maintains that it remains open to negotiations but says doctors’ welfare cannot indefinitely remain unresolved.
Dispute Goes Beyond One Allowance
The disagreement is broader than a single payment.
Resident doctors have previously raised concerns over the construction and completion of a modern Resident Doctors’ Quarters and Residency Training Centre, outstanding advancement and promotion arrears and the Medical Residency Training Fund.
They have also demanded teaching allowances for eligible doctors and stronger security for healthcare workers and patients.
These demands highlight the wider challenge facing public healthcare systems: governments must invest not only in hospitals and medical equipment but also in retaining the professionals needed to operate them.
A modern hospital without enough motivated doctors cannot deliver its full potential.
NARD Intervention Raises Stakes
The support of the national resident doctors’ body could increase pressure for a negotiated settlement.
NARD represents resident doctors across Nigeria and has significant experience organising industrial action over welfare, salaries, training and working conditions.
Its involvement does not automatically mean the LASUTH dispute will escalate into a wider strike.
But it gives the doctors additional institutional backing and signals that the disagreement is attracting attention beyond Lagos.
That is particularly important for LASUTH because the Ikeja hospital is one of the state’s most important tertiary healthcare institutions.
Prolonged disruption can affect patients requiring specialist treatment and increase pressure on other public and private hospitals.
Lagos Faces Healthcare Workforce Test
The dispute also comes shortly after Lagos commissioned new infrastructure at the Lagos State College of Nursing in Igando and outlined plans to strengthen medical education.
Those investments demonstrate an ambition to increase healthcare training capacity.
But training additional professionals addresses only one side of the workforce equation.
The state must also retain experienced doctors, nurses and other specialists by ensuring that agreed remuneration and working conditions are sustainable.
The immediate priority is therefore reaching an agreement that restores normal services at LASUTH without allowing the dispute to develop into a longer healthcare crisis.
For the Sanwo-Olu administration, the LASUTH confrontation has become a test of whether Lagos can match its substantial investment in health infrastructure with comparable attention to the professionals expected to deliver healthcare inside those facilities.
