Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state has sacked doctors, who have been on strike for the past few months.
The mass termination was announced on Friday at a press conference in Osogbo, by the Chairman, Special Committee on Health, Simon Afolayan.
Afolyan stated that due to the absence of the striking doctors from their work for more than six months, the state government ‘deemed’ that they had resigned their appointments.
The senior health official said the state government did not sack any of the doctors, hence the decision to terminate them, after abandoning their duties for over six months.
He said: “Doctors are parts of the civil service and by the civil service rule you cannot abandon your duty post for six months without reason and not face the consequences. If you do so, it is deemed that you have resigned your appointment. This rule has taken effect.”
Afolayan added that those who are still interested in still working in the state government’s employ, have the opportunity of reapplying.
He however, stated that the Osun state government could not afford to pay the doctors’ salaries in full, as a result of the prevalent financial crisis in the country.
Afolayan stressed that the demands of the doctors were impossible, while noting that there would be anarchy in the state if the government decided to pay the full salaries of the doctors and continue to pay other civil servants half salaries.
