Resident Doctors at the Federal Medical Centre in Ondo state, have staged a peaceful protest to demand the payment of the shortfall in their salaries, which is about N208 million, that is $580,000.
The aggrieved doctors carried placards, and marched round the hospital’s premises, chanting solidarity songs.
The doctors said they had confirmed that the funds had been released to the hospital since March 2017, by the federal government, but the Medical Director, Liasu Ahmed, ” denied receiving any funds for the purpose.
Ahmed, in an interview with our Correspondent, said an earlier N280 million received by the hospital was not meant for the payment of the doctors’ skipping arrears but it was for other expenditures, including the entitlements of other categories of workers.
But the doctors, brandishing relevant documents said this was not true, defending their claims that the funds had been paid to the hospital while adding that they would continue to make the demands until the payments were made.
President of the ARD, Ibikunle Fakorede, alleged 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.