Gombe interns protest over unpaid allowances
A coalition of interns at the Gombe State Specialist Hospital, on Monday staged a peaceful protest over several months of unpaid allowances.
The group, comprising intern pharmacists, nurses, radiographers, physiotherapists, medical laboratory scientists, amongst others, called on the state Governor, Muhammad Yahaya, to have mercy, and kindly expedite necessary payments of their accrued allowances, running into 13 months.
According to the aggrieved interns, the failure of the state government to duly pay their allowances had left many stranded and weary, as they could no longer cater for their basic needs.
Amid allegations of segregation and marginalisation, the protesting interns had bore placards with different inscriptions such as, “13 months without pay we can’t continue”; “11 months and still counting, pay our entitlements”; “We are tired of healthcare segregation”; “Is Governor Inuwa Yahaya aware”.
Speaking with journalists, spokesman to the group
Maxwell Solomon said, “Some of us have been here for almost 18 months now, no pay, and we started together with others.
“Some of these officers came behind us, and they paid them money, we’re not happy with that. Is the governor aware of these things?
“We’ve gone there, we’ve gone to the hospital management board several times, they’ve been deceiving us, so we don’t know.”
The group claimed they had exhausted all mediums for constructive dialogue and would be left with no other option than to boycott work, should the government fail to heed their cries by the end of the month.
They, therefore, beckoned on the governor and relevant stakeholders to look into it as a matter of urgency.
Reacting Commissioner for Health Habu Dahiru declared the protest as an illegality, saying that the group failed to exhaust various channels of vetting their grievances.
Dahiru said the Government has shown willingness to commence the payment of their allowances, stressing the schedule is current at the treasury house for final ratification.
The Commissioner said,”Since they are young people on training we will mentor them towards becoming responsive in the future. we have been paying them but it is the upgrade to intern status, the previous government did not do anything there were backlogs. We took one of them to treasury for the verification to tell us those that are still within the service of the state. They are young people we want them to grow in the medical profession and not to divert their energies into activism which is not the best.”
