The Association of Resident Doctors, (ARD), Federal Medical Center, (FMC) Owo, has accused the Acting Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Iliasu Ahmed of diverting the fund released by the federal government for the payment of 2016 arrears to another project.
They said the Acting CMD of the Hospital must give account of how the N280m released by the federal government for the payment of the 2016 shortfall in their salary was spent.
But, the Acting Medical Director, Ahmed, who confirmed the receipt of the N280m from federal government, said the fund was not meant for the payment of shortfall in the 2016 salary of the medical doctors.
The doctors made the allegation on Wednesday, during a peaceful protest over the management’s failure to pay the 2016 arrears of short fall in their salary amounting to N280million.
The doctors said the protest will continue until the management reversed its decision on the payment of the shortfall.
The doctors, armed with placards of various inscriptions such as “pay us the 2016 salary arrears, why holding to our arrears despite the release of N280m, we no longer want leaders like Ahmed Iliasu, where is N280m released for the payment of 2016 shortfall”, among others, blocked the main entrance to the CMD’s office.
Speaking on behalf of the protesting doctors, President of the ARD, Ibikunle Fakorede, said Ahmed had received the fund for the payment of the shortfall since April 2016.
Fakorede maintained that the Medical Director had diverted the funds for other uses, contrary to the mandate contained in the memo directing the payment of the funds.
“We have heard that the Federal Government has no other funds to remit to the institution for the payment of the arrears, since the one released had been used for other purposes by the CMD.
“The CMD is still denying that the N280 million paid to FMC Owo is not meant for our salary shortfall and up till now there is no evidence from him to counter the documents we have presented before him
“We were told by the Presidential Initiative on Continued Audit, (PICA), Abuja that the N280 million is for our salary shortfall.
“We will continue to occupy the Acting Medical Director’s office until our demand is met. The protest and occupation of the CMD office will continue between the hours 8am to 1pm daily till our demands are met. We would resume work by 2pm each day till 8am the following morning”, he said.
While speaking with DAILYPOST, Ahmed said the fund was meant for other expenditures, including the entitlements of other categories of workers.
Ahmed said “this money they are talking about is not for Resident Doctors alone; the money is meant for all categories of workers.
“The Federal government gave us N280million and we are still expecting over a billion Naira from the federal government.
“They are only shouting over this fund as some institutions are also affected by this payment. We have paid everything as it is not meant for them alone but all the workers in the hospital that have similar shortfall last year.”
He, however, frowned over the protest by the Resident Doctors, saying the protest was wrongly timed as a case was coming up at the industrial Court on Thursday over the matter.
He urged the medical practitioners not to preempt the court.
But the doctors, brandishing relevant documents maintained that the fund was meant for resident doctors and had been diverted for another purpose, while adding that they would continue to make the demands until the payments were made.
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