Health Workers Receive 6 Month Salary Arrears After HumAngle Report
Employees of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (AEFUTHA) have received their salary arrears for six months following a report published by HumAngle about the financial difficulties they faced.
One of the resident doctors confirmed this development on Tuesday, indicating that the arrears were paid along with salaries for July.
Over 300 health workers at the federal hospital, including doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists, pharmacists, and hospital orderlies, had been working without pay since December 2019. They were told this is because of the delay in getting them enrolled into the government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
The hospital management had also said restrictions on movement because of the COVID-19 pandemic meant they had to exercise patience till IPPIS officials would be able to visit the facility for the enrolment exercise ㅡ causing the desperate workers to cry for help.
After speaking to some of the resident doctors, HumAngle detailed their experiences in a report published in May. Many of them had exhausted their savings, had a heap of growing debt, and could no longer afford basic needs or to take care of their families.
Shortly after the publication, the minister of health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, promised to look into the issue immediately; and about a week after his assurance, a biometric data capture exercise commenced at the hospital last till May 19.
HumAngle reported that the workers were paid for the first time in June.
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