House Officers numbering 18  and Interns numbering 24 undergoing their mandatory one year training with the Plateau State Specialist Hospital, Jos are facing hard times due to the non-payment of their monthly allowances for the past 8 months.

Our correspondent authoritatively gathered from a staff of the hospital who pleaded anonymity, said since the hospital engaged the young professionals last November, they have not been paid a dime. A House Officer who did not want his name in print confirmed the development and said it has been rough:

“It is 8 months now since we started our mandatory one year training, we are yet to receive a dime. This has constituted a huge distraction to our professional tutelage”

The young doctors are not alone in this as their counterparts, Intern Pharmacists and Intern Medical Laboratory Scientists also engaged by the hospital are sipping from the same cup.  One of the Interns who also pleaded anonymity said it has been a huge embarrassment as they have had to swallow their pride and fall back on their aged parents for basic financial support.

“If not for the free call food, we don’t know how we would have been coping. Can you imagine that after sponsoring us through school for over five years, we still ask our parents money to by soap and cream. The embarrassment is too much as our poor and aged parents were hoping that we should be able to take care of ourselves and also support our younger ones”

Asked if they have approached the management on the matter, the young professionals said the management has been giving assurances since January, a development that has not changed till date.

They regretted that the experience is a bitter one, being the first in their civil service career and wish they never applied to serve in the hospital.

They called on the Plateau State Governor, Rt Hon Simon Bako Lalong, to intervene on the matter:

“we don’t know if the governor is aware of our plight because we know he is called Mr Alert , a name he got due to his track record in consistent payment of salaries” the apparently demoralised young professionals lamented.

Credit: InspirationBlog

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House Officers, Interns with Plateau State Specialist Hospital Groan over 8 Months Unpaid Wages