₦airaland Forum

martineverest:
malaria isn't coronavirus

. Good so the coronavirus itself makes hydroxychloroquine too dangerous. They think they are dealing with nomads. Hydroxychloroquine prolonges the QT interval predisposing to a severe bradycardia , heart block and possible asystole. So why they don't tell us the mechanism by which covid 19 makes the trial of hydroxychloroquine dangerous. Possibly the drug may be dangerous in an already diseased heart (arrhythmias) of which an ECG could be done to detect that before administration of the drug on the controls.

CsRockefeller:
I have this female friend from school, I was a year ahead of her. We were very close because we worked together in running a school association for 2 years. She studied Bio- something.

Since I left school, we hardly communicate, our communications are just formal whenever we do; how are you? Congratulations on your new job (LinkedIn) how is work? She is my friend on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and watsapp.

Recently, she just checked up on me and that was very noble, I really appreciated her gesture given that people only check up on you when they want something these days. Upon enquiry, I found out that she is job hunting, I encouraged her and wished her well.

Last week, a colleague in a subsidiary of my company told me to help him look for a fresh graduate as his assistant, I quickly contacted another lady but she wasn't done with service so I remembered this my school friend and recommended her.

Initially, I didn't tell her I work with the said company and that we work within the same building, when she got the job, she told me and thanked me. Surprisingly, we met on Saturday for the first time in 3 years, she said sth about me loosing weight and all, it was a weekend and I was dressed in my casual. She left later without telling me, and hasn't chatted me up since Saturday.

Today, she saw me at work and just acted like she doesn't know me. I'm not a top level personnel in my organisation, I still have people I answer to especially my immediate supervisor who is a female. I was also dressed in my causals since today is a public holiday.

I'm really surprised at her behaviour, is this how we are gonna continue? I'm not interested in dating her but at least she shouldn't be showing all that attitude at this stage. Since Saturday she hasn't sent any message and I haven't too.

I'm even planning on resigning this weekend but I'm really disappointed at her behaviour towards me. It's not like in school I was a big boy with a killer swag, I'm just a simple guy, money never dey to form big boy, she isn't a big gal neither, just a church girl in school, so why is she trying to form on a job I recommended her for?

.

You have done your part, which is noble, leave her to live her life. Don't rubbish the noble you have done

martineverest:
chloroquine kills coronavirus patients faster

Our forefathers and fathers used chloroquine for treating malaria and it didn't kill them. Suddenly Chloroquine is now dangerous. Bullshit

WHO the hypocrite. Hydroxychloroquine approved for treatment of Rheumatoid arthritis is suddenly too dangerous for clinical trial for covid 19

Angelfrost:
Seriously now, apart from Abakaliki, where else is developed in Ebonyi??!... Just curious!!!

Nigerians good at digressing from question for sake of "notice me" . The question says which Nigerian "City" has the best road, and you are asking me rubbish question about regions of Ebonyi developed. Can you now measure your foolishness ?

adecz:
Maybe na you be the insider sef!!


We sabi una type that stay with
your parents & never desire to go
out & struggle for yourself; preferring
to hang around your parents &
carrying out cheap scams on them
to finance your miserable life..

The tone & violence of your reply
reply has exposed you, a scallllywag
& scheming layabout.

Kid. Before it was greed of my mum, now I'm the scammer. Can you listen to your incoherence ? Your neck is really carrying a burden to that empty skull of yours filled with abudant glia tissue amidst scanty primitive nerve cells. You are surely speaking from your experience and fustration. Little wonder why you make baseless assumption void of substance and I'm glad to burst your bubble that I'm satisfactorily employed in a federal agency while you remain in your frustration

donbachi:
Anambra state is apga and the catholic church is a force behind them.so,it will be difficult for another party.it wont be easy breaking into the catholic church by any other party.

Unteachable Nigerians. Voting party instead of persons. Continue to propagate your slave trade

MaziAlaye:
Damilola Arowolaju Onyekachi, confirm Igbo Amaka... We your brothers from the East are really proud of you.

More wins Nwanne

���. You made me laugh real hard

Frankenstein:
Are you serious? Millions will mean hundreds of thousands of deaths. Be careful what you wish for.

Human beings are funny and easily manipulated with fear. The problem we have here in Nigeria is lack of adequate Statistics. Now we can't have a comparative all cause mortality before this pandemic and now. Are you aware that more than half of Nigerian population are infected with tuberculosis but only a few come down with clinical disease ? And majority of those who come down with clinical disease are those with other immunosuppressive comorbidities similar to what is obtainable with covid 19. Now why is there no lockdown for serious infectious airborne disease , nor isolation centers for infected persons ? I tell you most solemnly, the mortality from covid 19 in Nigeria is far less than mortality from other infectious airway diseases (Tuberculosis, Pneumonia etc). Before the pandemic , thousands of Nigerians die daily from this infectious diseases. The problem we having about this is that we are extrapolating and anticipating a similar scenario in the USA, Spain, Italy, Brazil, etc and also implementing same measures without a critical analysis of what is obtainable in Nigeria. Laziness has always been our problem else a study would have been done to ascertain if the measures we are currently taking outweighs the consequences on our economy

OdefaGirl:
If you were smart enough, you would have understood every error there and corrected them in your head..... so after reading through, you got nothing to say.

The sentences were much truncated and didn't help me comprehend the essay. I'm sorry, I'm not used to it.

paulolee:
good...u can sure them if thats ur best option because our hospitals jus keep failing us...ur story gave me memories of wat happened 5yrs bk on the 27th of may...sori if its a bit long and i'm derailing bt jus felt lyk sharing...
....it was on a rainy afternoon n i was on my way back home from a cyber café after finished printing some of my results and other documents that may be needed when i travel to continue my studies because i jus got admission in a state uni bk den and suddenly i heard a loud bang behind and was shocked when i turned and saw a kid between 5-7yrs of age lieing on the floor unconsiously on the other side of the road n he was knocked while tryin to cross the road by a dark blue camry that also swerved and parked casually near a nepa poll n almost hit the poll bt it didnt...immediately i rushed to d kid n saw him in a pool of blood n deep cut on his head bt he was still moving his hands n feet..d driver also came around n a few people gathered bcoz the street was scanty n they suggested we rushed him to a nearby private hospital around apapa syd...we did so using the guy's car n wen we got thier they accepted the kid n did stop the bleeding n dress d wound n gave him painkillers n sleeping pills after the guy av paid 5k n de asked for 45k to begin treatment dt they nid to do some scanning n stitching...d guy said he dat less cash on him n same with me n we pleaded they begin treatment n we go get d kid parents n come bk with d cash...we bk to d scene n asked every one abt the kids parents n nobody seems to kno him around n we dnt av time, d guy suggested dt i add moni to his n we pay n save his life n wen the kid is alright we can trace him n i get my refund bk n i agreed...i transferred 15k out of my 20k dt av saved for my acceptance fee n we headed to d hospital n he said he would see d doctor in his office n do a transfer to d doc or d hospital acc while me i went to check on the boy only to find out dt that idiot ran away with d money not tinking abt d life of the child( people ar really heartless)...d doc said d only option is to go get d boys parent bcoz of the financial issue n i went bk searching n finally saw his sister dt av came looking for him after his delay on d mssg dey sent him n togeda wit his dad we rush bk to d hospital bt d boy had passed on due to internal bleeding n complications...was very angry n i cried badly n very sad, down n depressed all through dt year bcoz so many tinz happened after dt may27th dt changed by life..
.1..cnt stop tinking dt d world just lose a young life bcoz of anoda human selfishness n made me to jus hate life itself..
2...lost dt admission bcoz i cudnt comeup wit dt 15k in d space of a month, was down n always indoors all days crying n even aving night mares wen i do sleep..
3...d worst is dt d boy parents n some peps also blamed me 4 his death 4 dier stupid reasons n i jus stop helping people even if u are in d point of death..
continue to r.i.p young bayo..i kno u left in a harsh way bt i kno you would be enjoying d afterlife....dis world is full of wickedness...

When you have made up your mind to write something, try to make life easy for your readers by writing in correct English and use of punctuations. Thank you

Nigerian banks are useless and inefficient. I can't Still imagine this bullshit in this century. Unfortunately its citizens are getting accustomed to the bullshit such that one who reacts against such bullshit is seen as a trouble maker . Nothing ever works in this country.

It could be from charging port

breakmyheadnow:
At this time when people should be turning to Jehovah God for fear of what the future holds, sadly some are taking advantage of a bad situation to scam unsuspecting members of the public.

Fraudsters working with corrupt bank officials(very likely) now have access to otherwise confidential details on your bank account. Details like;

*Full Name
*Date of Birth(DOB)
*Address
*BVN

As a matter of fact they have everything they need apart from just one important thing - your phone.

Bank security wall in recent years strictly includes One Time Password(OTP) for online transactions. This code is generated once an online transaction is made, as an extra security measure an is sent only to the mobile numberl registered on the account.

These Fraudsters need the OTP, they have all the other details but can't get the OTP because they don't have access to your phone. So now they try to use the details they have to make you give them this important OTP to complete the transaction.

They come to you, tell you they are calling from the bank, call out your real name, your house address and even your BVN number. Now you feel comfortable to deal with them because they have giving you confidential details.

Next the format is to tell you that they want to upgrade your account, or re activate your account, or process ATM for you, or create online banking for you etc anything that they can come up with.

Then they tell you that the bank will send you a code which you should send to them to complete your registration/upgrade/reactivation or whatever.

In reality they have just initiated transaction to transfer 500k etc, as security the bank sends you One Time Password (OTP), You ignorantly send to them and BINGO transaction is complete and your money travels to their account.

This is why the banks say no matter what format they use, the banks will never give you unsolicited call asking for details on phone or via email. They will rather invite you to the bank.

Money is hard to make these days. Let's protect the little we can make.

.


This exactly happened to my mum yesterday. Most of their victims are elderly especially women who are easily swindled

Abaman001:
Sorry bro. Truth hurts so much as they say....deal with the naked truth of Igbo's being so mean always when money is mention, its a trait of an average Igbo man.

Well I don't think that it's the truth that is hurting. Your ignorance is only amendable by a debulking neurosurgery and that hurts me so much.

Slawormir:
Damnnnnn niggarrr
Isoright
What da fuckkkk
initially we all concluded that it was a deal gone wrong
And probably he is one greedy azaman
I was even saying being a bomber and betraying your fellow bombers is among the hundred ways to die

Not knowing he was kidnapped and killed for no reason simply because he was riding expensive whip

Mehnnnnn! This one shock me o
We niggarrrz need to stay low! On a low key
Probably dey wear slippers
Then buy the bottles go drink am for house

At least next time you and other cerebrally low individual wouldn't make baseless assumption.

adecz:



I posted my same experience with
these scammers last week & told the mods
to take it to front page to alert unsuspecting
Nigerians, but since it was not about
snake, lalasticlala & crew ignored.


You didn't tell us that she was also
promised her "Palliative" from govt, which
is the final hook they use on greedy
people like your relative.


I even recorded the conversation from
the get go, since i knew it was a scamm.

They work together with insiders in
the banks.

You dare to call my mum greedy for a baseless assumption. Pray I don't get to meet you physically, else I plung my darts into your carotids up to your skull and watch you exsanguinate to death. This is how people like your bring trouble upon themselves and their families

ikh777:
I have only done TRACKING with POLICE... I know nothing about DSS or others.

Ok. Thanks for your advice

ikh777:
No, I know how bad the NPF is in this country BUT I have been helped on a very similar issue before and I paid 25k total for the tracking and when they got the guy who scammed... the go all I spent back from him and paid me.

The NPF loves these kind of JOBS because it is FREE MONEY FOR THEM.

I wish you could look beyond the evil we hear about them and find any of their zonal or area commands... that is where the MAIN tracking is done.

Which is preferable. Police or DSS ?

youngsahito:
sorry about this bro but your mum should be very careful next time. report to the nearest police station and her bank

Elderly and their issues. The thing tire me my brother

My mum was few hours ago swindled of #990k. She had renewed ATM card 2 days ago but had issues with the atm card. She got a call today from this number 07043062230 claiming to be from first bank to rectify the issue. Unfortunately for her, she never suspected she was dealing with a scammer. She disclosed her ATM pin and before her very eyes, all her money continued to diasppear, with just 1K left in her account. Please is there anything that can be done and what is the necessary next line of action

I remember going for internship interview if OAUTHC in 2015. The oral interview was divided into professional medical questions and then Nigerian current affairs. This was my current affairs question. I could only list two, The Nigerian coat of arms and the Nigerian flag. Couldn't remember others. Perhaps I wasn't successful because of this . I was very sure I answered the professional questions correctly

Exc2000:
I started with this point each country needs to have a full policy document and piece of legislation on disaster management, this fire brigade approach is very stupid... we should set up a special fund in case things like this happens

Lockdown is definitely affecting many peoples brain.. cos this is more than sentiment or stupidity

I don't expect a human with a functional cerebral cortex to be typing this. What you spew here is a function of primitive nerve cells amidst abundant glial tissue, comparable with the thinking faculty of the poriferas. So unfortunate for the neck which bears such burden

Exc2000:



each country needs to have a full policy document and piece of legislation on disaster management, this fire brigade approach is very stupid... we should set up a special fund in case things like this happens, because even after Corrona virus goes, Trump is hell bent on giving us another World War, and I doubt Trump vs China, Russia , Iran nuclear war wouldn't be more catastrophic than Corrona Virus, infact we should thank Corona virus for slowing down tensions between the western power bloc and the eastern power bloc

The sooner we start preparing for Lockdowns and War the better for us all, rather than making silly excuses of hunger , poverty and disease

Whats our excuse as Africans not to prepare, Isreal, Saudi and other middle eastern countries without good soil imported tonnes of fertile soil into their country and now produce more than enough agricultural product that they even export.

yet Africa with the resources are listening to insults from UNICEF saying blacks cant follow simple health guideline because they are lazy and hungry.. the sickening part is many people are already commending UNICEF for calling blacks hungry , lazy people who would prefer a plate of food to keeping healthy during dangerous pandemic

In 2020 white racist Unicef Directors still tells Africans , not to take simple health precaution because they are lazy , hungry poor and stupid, while the Unicef workers conducting this report had since travelled back through their various embassy in Nigeria to go to their own country to observe every health directives including lockdown

Buhari please end the lock down so that Kano and Jigawa people, lagos and ogun people can enjoy free movement and transmit whatever is killing them in hundreds across the entire country from SouthEast to SouthSouth and everywhere, Wike should also open the state borders and let Almajiri bring in food from Kano, last last na una without basic health insurance go suffer pass, Unicef people are already in their various countries 2nd week corona entered Nigeria, observing lockdown, Trump test all staffs and people close to him regularly, and once you are positive you can kiss the white house good bye, he isn't even travelling anymore for November election campaings


.

I can't believe you took time to type this rubbish. Some one calls poverty, hunger and disease "Silly excuse" . UNICEF was talking with facts, using data obtained from mortality of poverty related childhood disease compared to mortality of covid 19 in developing countries, and a fool without any fact spewed gibberish. Are you aware that more than two million under 5 children die yearly from nutrition related factors alone without a pandemic ? No facts, just rants. Since the government is not ready to shoulder responsibility of taking care of it's poor citizens , then they should not decide what manner of death they wish. And next time, talk with facts

Abakaliki. Good road network with excellent traffic control

You guys can digress. It is not talking about greater sins. It is talking about sins against mankind as opposed to sins directly against God. However all sins are against God. Take for instance Blasphemy or Idolatry is a grave sin directly against God. A Muslim is ready to kill another for Blasphemy against Allah. However it is not a sin against mankind. But owing a worker his Salary is a sin directly against mankind which is indirectly against God (For Man is the handiwork of God). It is a sin crying to heaven for vengeance as explained in scriptures. It doesn't necessarily translate that owing a worker his salary is greater than Blasphemy as only God can determine that.

The sins crying to heaven for Vengeance are
1) Wilful Murder including abortion (The sin of Cain , Gen 4:10)
2)Oppression of the poor (Exodus 22. 22-23)
3) Defrauding Workers of their wages (Deuteronomy 24.14-15)
4)Homosexuality (The sin of Sodom Gen 18.20-21)

However not that ALL these sins can be forgiven if one makes a sincere repentance to God and implore His Mercy as seen in the case of the good thief on the cross and St. Paul

Surprisingly the mods have refused to move this to front page. Pray non of your family member becomes a victim of any health condition at this moment. Until then you will understand the pains of being treated by disgruntled doctors

In the presidential taskforce briefing on covid 19, yesterday, a question was put to the honorable Minister of Health about the plight of Health workers in Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki and possible solution. He responded by promising to look into it with immediate effect, but claims he is not aware of such and that they were probably state health workers. However a letter drafted to him by the NARD , as at April 27th, 2020, which was received, signed and stamped on 28th April, 2020, by the office of the honorable Minister, Federal Ministry of Health contradicts this denial. Click below to watch


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9doaAqyQcoI


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izJjLdUnl3Q

Medical Doctors in States Get The Raw Deal, Go Five Months Without Pay While Fighting COVID-19

While governments and members of the public are celebrating medical workers across the world for their professional sacrifices in battling COVID-19, many doctors in the employ of the government in Nigeria are facing starvation and frustration.

Last November, Victoria was full of high hopes as she resigned from her job at a private hospital where she was not being paid well. She had just been offered employment by Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (AEFUTHA) and, for her, a federal appointment meant higher and promptly paid salaries. But she was right only about the former.

The young resident doctor spent nearly all her savings on renting an apartment and relocating from Imo to Ebonyi State. Not a problem, she had thought, “All I have to do is work for a month to become financially stable again.” She received her first shock when, during their orientation exercise, the Chief Medical Director, Dr Emeka Onwe-Ogah, informed the newcomers they would not be paid for the first three months after which they would then get a lump sum. Older employees told her it was customary because, “You know, this is Nigeria.”

“Okay,” she contemplated, trying not to panic. “It is not that bad. All we have to do is exercise patience for three months and then we will be fine.”

This is the sixth month since her appointment and Victoria has still not been paid a dime. By the end of March, she and her colleagues were expecting credit alerts of at least over N800,000 that never showed up. Second shock.

When they asked for an explanation, the hospital management said they had yet to be enrolled on the federal government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), introduced in 2007 but implemented more strictly from October 2019. The management added that IPPIS officials could not visit the hospital to capture the staff’s biodata as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on inter-state travelling.

“They told us that we should bear with them and hope the pandemic ends soon,” Victoria says, recalling the third and final shocking moment.

“So, what if the pandemic lasts until December or even next year? Does it mean we will be without salaries throughout that period? How are we going to feed? How are we going to take care of our families?”

She describes her experience over the past six months as “really terrible”. She has had to stop using her car because she cannot afford to fuel it and has been getting to work through motorcycles and tricycles. At some point, she recalls, she could not even afford the alternative means of transportation. Whenever they are broke, some of the doctors stay at home under such excuses as illness or food poisoning.

“The motivation to work is not there,” she adds with a shaky voice. “Some of my colleagues even slipped into depression; they just lost interest in life entirely. A lot of them were working in very good places and left because they got ‘something more promising’, only for them to be told stories that they cannot be paid.”

Victoria, who is the eldest sibling of four and whose dad is retired from service, has not been able to fulfil her obligations to her family.

Her story was echoed by half a dozen other resident doctors who spoke to HumAngle. In November, about 100 doctors were appointed by the federal teaching hospital. Together with nurses, laboratory scientists, pharmacists, and hospital orderlies, the workers who are affected by the non-payment of salaries are estimated to be well over 300 — between 30 and 40 per cent of the facility’s workforce.

Doctors in debt, doctors in tears
While many of the doctors are themselves battling debts that keep piling up and hunger, some of them have even more to worry about. In the case of Ugochukwu, that includes his wife, little sister, and aged mother. Unable to cater for their basic needs, he had to send the three to his village in Enugu.

“My wife can’t feed because she is not working yet. I am currently eating once or twice a day. One time, I fell ill and could not buy drugs. It was my neighbours who fed me,” he narrates sadly.

“If I die now, all the money they’re owing me will be gone.”

Last year, right before he resigned from his old workplace, health complications (osteoarthritis and urinary tract infections) suffered by his mother took all his savings.

“Then I got this job only to be told that I can’t be paid until the COVID-19 pandemic is over,” Ugochukwu expresses his disappointment. “My mother’s health could deteriorate any moment and if I can’t fund her treatment, I don’t know what will happen.”

If her condition worsens, not only will he need more money to pay for her treatment, he will also have to take over as the family’s breadwinner.

Paula, another doctor at AEFUTHA, says the increase in commodity prices and general scarcity due to the pandemic has put them in even greater hardship. She had also resigned from a different facility before joining the teaching hospital. “Imagine the joy in my heart and that of my family members when I got this offer,” she says.

Months down the line, she has only been able to survive thanks to loans from friends and families. Other doctors with similar complaints often add that general economic hardship has reduced the goodwill they have enjoyed from others in the past. Add to that, many of their friends now tell them they are not creditworthy.

“I have exhausted all I have,” Paula says. “I am eating from hand to mouth, borrowing from every Tom, Dick, and Harry to sustain a livelihood. Even the borrowing is not so easy because nobody wants to give their money out.”

“Some of us who are catering for our parents and siblings are tired of giving the excuse that we’ve not been paid. The agony I am passing through, the tears and regrets are beyond comparison. You are a doctor, yet you can’t take care of yourself.”

She adds that her experiences have made her realise there nothing worse than being broke and without hope.

Doctors without shelters
Many of the unpaid doctors who relocated to Ebonyi from various parts of the country were able to get accommodation and settle down. But not everyone was that lucky. According to the health workers, some of them have had to sleep in the hospital’s call rooms because they cannot afford to rent apartments of their own.

“I know one who doesn’t have an apartment yet, so he keeps his things in the call room, takes his bath there, and sleeps there whether he is on call or not,” Ugochukwu informs HumAngle.

“He is basically homeless,” he adds.

“Normally we are only meant to sleep in the call room when we are on call because it is not a conducive place. But when a doctor is homeless, he has no other option but to pass his nights there.”

Another group of doctors are living somewhere between the two extremes by lodging with relatives and friends. Since he moved to Abakaliki in December, John has been staying with a kinsperson as he is unable to afford his own space. The arrangement, he says, has been inconvenient for everyone.

“I was working at a very reputable hospital in Lagos where I got paid promptly,” he says.

“I had planned that, by now, I should have settled down on my own and faced my training squarely. Sadly, my savings have been stretched thin.”

Full of regrets, he adds that his transition to the teaching hospital in Ebonyi has been nothing short of hellish and that he would have stayed back if he knew what was coming.

“I was never desperate to start residency even though I wanted to,” John says.

“A lot of other people are not even as lucky as me to have a relative or close friend to stay with, and those that do are already feeling guilty that we have overstayed our welcome.”

Efforts in futility
The resident doctors themselves have taken steps to seek a remedy. They reached out to friends who were employed at other hospitals around the same time and, unlike them, have been receiving their salaries. Those working at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri; University of Benin Teaching Hospital; and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital said even though they also faced difficulties getting enrolled under IPPIS, their employers decided to pay them using the previous structure: the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS). AEFUTHA’s management has, however, insisted doing this is illegal.

“We said okay but, on the basis of compassion, just do this to alleviate the suffering of some of us so that we can find something to eat; they refused,” Victoria says.

Also reacting to the hospital’s position on the GIFMIS option, Ugochukwu protests, “They could pay us via the old platform, but they say it is illegal. Imagine. But, starving us is what is not illegal?”

The doctors reached out to the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) for help. In a letter written to the national body in April and obtained by HumAngle, the resident doctors observed that AEFUTHA is the only tertiary hospital in Ebonyi and “any industrial disharmony at this period will be devastating for the state in the fight against COVID-19.”

NARD, in turn, wrote to the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, on April 28, appealing to him to intervene by reaching out to the hospital’s CMD as well as the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation. These efforts have, however, yet to yield any results.

The affected staff also emailed IPPIS for clarification and the department replied that the problem is not from them and they should rather get in touch with the hospital’s payroll unit.

Victoria recalls, “In one of the meetings one of our leaders had with the CMD, he said he does not want to have any discussion with him if it does not have to do with the pandemic.

“It’s terrible. Does it mean the COVID-19 pandemic is more important than the people you have employed? These doctors you have not paid for five months, aren’t they part of the frontline workers? Are they going to work on empty stomachs?”

No response yet from health ministry — NARD
NARD’s Publicity and Social Secretary, Dr Stanley Egbogu, informed HumAngle on Thursday that the association’s letter to the health minister has not been replied to the best of his knowledge. He urges the management of Alex Ekwueme Teaching Hospital to hasten the process of paying its workers as others, including the Federal Medical Centre in Owerri, have done.

“Even though it might be difficult to get IPPIS to capture them, we know that if the hospital management does the right thing, they will be able to get money through the GIFMIS payment platform; but they have refused to do that,” he says.

“I don’t know how long they are going to continue to starve these people of funds. Whether they use the IPPIS or GIFMIS platform, the most important thing is they should hasten up and pay them. They can’t continue to work like this; it is totally unacceptable.

“What if this COVID and the lockdown continues into the next five months, are you saying they will go 10 months without salaries? Something urgently has to be done.”

He adds: “FMC Owerri was able to pay because the government and the hospital management took their workers seriously.”

Efforts to get comments from the hospital CMD, Dr Onwe-Ogah, were unsuccessful. Calls placed to his phone on different days were not answered and texts sent to him have also not been replied.

One of the resident doctors tells HumAngle they are restrained by conscience not to go on strike and are also afraid to speak up because of the fear of losing their jobs.

“We are not happy with what is going on here because we strongly believe this issue is something the management can easily take care of,” says Victoria.

“It is really a big issue for us. We considered embarking on industrial strike but some of our senior colleagues said it is not really a good time because the health sector needed all hands on deck due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But we cannot continue to work on empty stomachs.”

*Names of the health workers have been changed to protect their identities

https://humangle.ng/medical-doctors-in-states-get-the-raw-deal-go-five-months-without-pay-while-fighting-covid-19/