By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi Abuja, has commenced a three-day warning strike over non-payment of shortfalls in their salaries.
The president of the association, Adejo Arome, made this known in Abuja on Monday.
He said the strike was necessitated by the inability of the hospital to pay the salary shortfall despite being paid by the federal government into the hospital account in December 2019.
“We are embarking on strike because our rights are being trampled upon. We have salary shortfall which was remitted into the hospital account but the account department has refused to release it to us.
“They claim that the money was not tagged for our welfare but we were given evidence that proper notification was given to them.
“But they have misappropriated the funds for other things which the money was not tagged for,” he said.
Arome said in spite of the Managing Director’s directive that the money be paid, the hospital’s account section had yet to pay.
He said the hospital makes a lot of money from patients as it is one of the most expensive in the Nigerian capital.
“We know this hospital is one of the most expensive and we know how much patients have to pay every time. So we know how much the hospital makes.
“We feel bad that they are not giving us what is due. We have responsibilities too, we have children. So this situation is necessary to drive home a point,” he said.
He noted that the association tried all its best to avert the strike, but the management frustrated its efforts.
“We would only back down on the strike if we received alert as evidence of payment for the December 2019 salary shortfall arrears.”
