Abia doctors protest 24-month salary arrears owed medical workers

• Published date: 15 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

Members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Abia State Chapter, barricaded the entrance gate to the Abia Government House, Umuahia, the state capital to protest the 24-month salary arrears allegedly owed medical and non-medical staff of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) Aba, by the state government.

The doctors who came out in their numbers were also protesting 13 months of arrears owed to doctors and other staff of the state Health Management Board (HMB).

The doctors from different parts of the state were said to have converged on the premises of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, before proceeding to the Government House gate.

The medical workers while on the march chanted solidarity songs to depict the mood of the group and as well calling on the state government to do the needful.

They also carried placards with different inscriptions such as: 'Doctors' lives matter,' 'Our salary is our entitlement,' '2 years without salary 'no be jokes,' 'Man's inhumanity to man,' among others.

Chairman of the NMA in the state, Dr. Isaiah Abali, who led the procession, said doctors in the employ of the State Government were passing through hell following many months of unpaid wages.

Abali decried the condition of the affected doctors, many of whom he said, 'no longer meet their daily needs.'

The NMA chairman expressed sadness over the inability of the state government to clear the backlog of salary arrears of doctors.

According to him, contrary to the allegation by government officials, the protest had no political undertones whatsoever. This is even as he asked the state government to stop giving excuses and clear the outstanding arrears of the health workers.

NMA had towards the end of last year threatened to cripple the entire health sector of the state until the government cleared the salary arrears.

The medical body also declared an indefinite strike in both public and private hospitals in the state but despite the threats, the government is yet to meet the demands of the doctors.

State government reacts

Reacting to the protest, Abia State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Barr. Eze Chikaamnayo, in a statement, described the protesters as some self-serving politicians masquerading as doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association, Abia State and ABSUTH.

According to him, between 2015 when Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu took office to date, a total of N11,444,043,333 (Eleven billion, four hundred and forty-four million...