A coalition of interns at the Gombe State Specialist Hospital staged a peaceful protest on Monday over several months of unpaid allowances.
The group, made up of intern pharmacists, nurses, radiographers, physiotherapists, medical laboratory scientists, amongst others, called on the Governor of Gombe State, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, to have mercy, and kindly hurry up necessary payments of their accrued allowances, running into 13 months.
The aggrieved interns complained that the failure of the state government to duly pay their allowances had left many stranded and weary, as they could no longer cater for their basic needs.
According to the interns, several of them have spent more than a year without the benefit of receiving salaries, adding that the situation had left many of them “stranded as we can barely cater for ourselves and will not want a situation where our patients and even the public will begin to notice our distress.”
The protesting interns were seen with placards with different inscriptions such as, “13 months without pay we can’t continue”; “11 months and still counting, pay our entitlements”; “We are tired of healthcare segregation”; “Is Governor Inuwa Yahaya aware”.
The Spokesman of the group, Maxwell Solomon, said, “Some of us have been here for almost 18 months now, no pay, and we started together with others.
“Some of these officers came behind us, and they paid them money, we’re not happy with that. Is the governor aware of these things?
“We’ve gone there, we’ve gone to the hospital management board several times, they’ve been deceiving us, so we don’t know.”