Ekiti University Hospital health workers protest unpaid fees

Medical workers at Ekiti State Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Ado Ekiti, launched a protest against unpaid benefits on Monday.

They arrived in the early hours of the day and closed the health facility, preventing staff and visitors from entering the hospital.

The workers, under the auspices of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), converged on the main gate of the health facility located in Adebayo and cordoned off the hospital.

The blockade, believed to be a warning protest, lasted from 8 a.m. to noon and ensured that no doctors or other staff were allowed into the hospital.

As the protest lasted, hundreds of medical staff chanted anti-government songs to ridicule the government's action on the poor condition of workers at the health facility.

Addressing the workers, President of JOHESU, EKSUTH Chapter, Omotola Farotimi, explained that the protest was aimed at drawing attention to non-payment of back wages, cooperative deductions, non-application of the minimum wage and unpaid holiday bonuses.< /p>

Mr. Farotimi regretted that the cooperative deduction had not been paid by management for the past 24 months, bringing the tally to a total of N1.6 billion.

“When this government arrived in 2018, the total of outstanding deductions was a sum of 500 million naira. But now it has ballooned up to 1.6 billion naira,” he said. he declared.

“Another issue that is agitating our minds is the issue of minimum wage. It has been implemented for the workers of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti. health are paid, with the exception of our members.

"At the last meeting of the hospital board, they approved the payment of minimum wage for us, but nothing has been done so far. We can't wait any longer and start to suffer in silence. We must cry out to the government.

“The Board of Directors will have another meeting next week, so what we are doing is just a warning protest. This door is where we will be doing our work for the next few days and we will continue until we have a positive response."

Responding to the degenerative situation, EKSUTH Chief Medical Director Kayode Olabanji said management met with JOHESU last Thursday and reassured them of their commitment to acceding to their demands.

Mr. Olabanji added that a letter of assurance dated August 19 was delivered to JOHESU management, reinforcing management's commitment to guarantee that all emolument arrears will be paid.

“There is nothing we do in secret at this hospital. It was agreed that there was an approved minimum wage for workers. But the questions are; was it supported in cash? there money for payment that we hid in an account?" he said.

"We really sympathize with them, but I think we have given them enough assurance that we will pay. We will still have another meeting this week to sort out all these problems."

The issue of unpaid salary arrears in Ekiti State affects all state institutions.

Retirees have cried out to the state government to meet their demands to pay pension arrears and gratuities.

The state government under Governor Kayode Fayemi has reaffirmed that it is doing its best for the welfare of workers in the face of dwindling federal benefits and other state revenue. Support the integrity and credibility journalism of PREMIUM TIMES Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can guarantee the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy and a transparent government. For free and continued access to the best investigative journalism in the country, we ask that you consider providing modest support to this noble endeavour. By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you help sustain relevant journalism and keep it free and accessible to everyone.

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