Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan
It was a herculean task today for visitors, patients and workers of the University College Hospital, Ibadan to gain access into the hospital premises as security men and cleaners at the hospital embarked on an unscheduled strike action.
The two main gates of the hospital were under lock and key by the workers who were said to be protesting non-payment of their 11 months salaries arrears by the hospital management.
Motorists along the Mokola-Gate route and Queen Elizabeth road linking the State Secretariat to Total Garden Junction and the two routes leading to the two gates of the hospital were held up in a serious traffic jam for hours.
According to sources, as early as 7am, the routes to the hospital became impassable with hundreds of other road users, including workers heading to the state secretariat nearby, trapped in the congestion.
Patients who had early morning appointments were disappointed as they could not gain entrance into the hospital. At a point, pedestrians were allowed into the premises but vehicles were prevented from gaining entrance.
One of the protesters lamented the insensitivity of the hospital’s management, accusing the Chief Medical of the hospital, Prof Temitope Alonge of deliberately withholding the fund meant for their salaries, calling for Federal Government intervention.
She said, “We have endured for 11 months without salaries. Can the CMD endure a month without salary? But we are considered lowly in the ranks of staff of the hospital so our money can wait. We are vulnerable too because we hardly have any voice in the day-to-day running of hospital. However, we are responsible for their security and hygiene. We open and lock the gate and clean the toilets and the wards. When they sleep at home, we look over the security of the hospital at night, daring the danger. But that is what we agreed to do when we applied so there is no problem with that. Our line of work is difficult but highly important to the hospital. We deserve better than what we get. We call on the Federal Government to prevail on the hospital management to have pity on us.”
Another protesters also informed journalists that the hospital CMD had addressed the protesting workers explaining that their salaries were not paid directly by the hospital but through an agency which the Federal Government contracted the two departments to, promising to pay one month salary to the workers from the hospital’s Internally Generated Revenue and that efforts would be made to ensure that the agency involved facilitate speedy payments of the money.