Military medical interns owed 8 months salary



Interns — doctors, pharmacists and others — serving in Military Hospitals across the country, at the weekend, claimed they were yet to receive “a dime” after almost nine months of stewardship.

Some of the affected medical practitioners narrated their ordeal to The Guardian last Friday, saying that they had suffered untold hardship as a result of the failure of military authorities to pay them their stipends despite series of requests and consultations.

They, therefore, urged President Goodluck Jonathan and Minister of Defence, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, to personally intervene in the process to ensure that justice is speedily done.

According to one of the interns, who craved anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue, there had been several unfruitful efforts to get their entitlement, as the authorities gave conflicting information and excuses.

But sources loyal to the Defence Ministry, yesterday, said that the payment was put on hold following a verification exercise that was ordered by the Ministry of Finance, based on the need to ascertain the actual number of interns at the Military hospitals.

Consequently the Ministry of Defence, which used to effect payment of the salaries, was asked to allow the Finance Ministry do so on its behalf through the e-payment option.

The essence, a source said, is to address the issue of ghost workers and cut down on costs. It was also learnt that the two Ministries are synchronising the lists of interns as submitted from the Defence Ministry and would soon begin payment of arrears accruing from the eight-month delay.

Interns are junior doctors or medical personnel usually resident in a hospital and it is customary that, as health professionals, they go through a compulsory one-year internship programme in accredited hospitals across the country.

The accredited military hospitals are under the Ministry of Defence.

- Guardian

No be noble profession of medicine?

These people really take their oath seriously...

Where the masses expect dem to dey suffer and also to dey perform their jobs like Yankee docs...