The Management of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, has firmly rejected the demand by its striking resident doctors for the provision of free meals during call hours and night duty, insisting that such a request lies outside the conditions of service approved by the Federal Government for staff of federal tertiary health institutions.
In an official statement issued on Tuesday and signed under the leadership of the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Wasiu Lanre Adeyemo, the hospital said the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the Association of Resident Doctors ARD, LUTH Chapter, is anchored on demands the Management has neither the legal latitude nor the financial capacity to unilaterally grant.
Credible News reports that the resident doctors downed tools last Monday, paralysing services at one of Nigeria’s foremost referral hospitals. According to the management, two rounds of extensive engagement have since been held between the Chief Medical Director and the expanded Executive Committee of ARD LUTH, but the union has stood firm on its demands.
“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 for resident doctors or any other category of staff in federal tertiary health institutions,” the statement declared.
At the heart of the Management’s position is a binding agreement reached about seven years ago between the immediate past management of LUTH and all recognised unions in the hospital — ARD LUTH inclusive.
Also Read: LUTH unveils modern outpatients care centre
Under that agreement, all parties conceded that free meals for staff on call and night duty were “neither realistic nor sustainable.” In lieu of free meals, the parties agreed that management would build a befitting cafeteria to conveniently and affordably serve staff on duty.
The hospital warned that acceding to ARD’s demand would amount to a breach of that collective agreement and would set off a chain reaction among other unions.
“Granting free meals to only one union will constitute a clear act of discrimination against every other category of staff, trigger legitimate agitation and copycat industrial action across the hospital, and impose a recurring financial burden that the hospital cannot afford and cannot sustain,” the statement read, adding that some other unions have already begun to signal readiness for industrial action should management concede.
Cafeteria Delivered in 2025
The management pointed to the delivery of the long-promised cafeteria as evidence of its good faith. According to the statement, when the current administration assumed office three years ago, the cafeteria envisaged under the seven-year-old agreement had not been built, leaving all unions agitated.
The current management said it sourced the required funds, completed the project and commissioned the facility in October 2025 with fanfare — a ceremony attended by the Executive Committee of ARD LUTH alongside representatives of every other union in the hospital.
To further cushion the welfare of on-duty staff, management said it negotiated subsidised meal prices with the operating vendor and set up a monitoring committee to enforce compliance on both pricing and quality. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory scientists on the wards, theatres and laboratories can also request meals directly from the cafeteria under a special arrangement.
Six Free-Meal Days Yearly
Beyond the subsidised cafeteria arrangement, the hospital said it has sustained a welfare tradition of providing free meals to all staff on call and on duty on six major public holidays each year: Christmas Day, New Year Day, Easter, Eid-el-Fitr, Eid-el-Kabir and Independence Day. The gesture, management stressed, is “entirely funded by the hospital as a welfare package and not as a contractual entitlement,” and has been consistently honoured throughout the current administration’s three-year tenure.
Residents’ Quarters at 60% Completion
Responding to the ARD’s parallel demand for improved accommodation, management disclosed that renovation of the residents’ quarters is currently at about 60 per cent completion. The project, it said, predates the ongoing strike and reflects a standing commitment to the welfare of resident doctors.
Management further contended that ARD is the only union rejecting the current welfare framework. “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,” the statement noted.
The hospital described as “regrettable” that a demand outside the Federal Government-approved conditions of service, and one that contradicts a subsisting collective agreement, is being pressed through industrial action that is disrupting patient care at “a foremost national referral hospital.”
Appeal to Striking Doctors
While insisting it cannot grant demands outside the Federal Government-approved conditions of service, unilaterally breach a subsisting collective agreement, or extend a privilege to one union that cannot equitably and sustainably be extended to all others, the management said its doors remain open for continued dialogue.
It appealed to the leadership of ARD LUTH to call off the strike “in the interest of the vulnerable patients who depend on LUTH for critical, and often life-saving, medical care, and to return to the negotiating table in good faith.”
“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 concluded.
Crediblenewsng.com
