Medical doctors in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria, under the aegis of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARDFCTA), have alleged that doctors in the employment of the FCT are being owed three to seven months salaries.

The doctors who are being owed salaries also complained of what they described as suspicious deductions from the salaries of older doctors after being registered on the Integrated Payment and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

After a virtual council meeting on 7 May, 2020, the association issued a communiqué signed by the General Secretary, Dr Mustapha Ibrahim, saying, ‘The council noted with dismay the haphazard nature in which the April 2020 salaries [were] paid by the IPPIS with no prior sensitisation or explanation despite the 30 April, 2020, deadline for all matters connected therewith [to] be resolved.

‘Most newly employed members were still omitted in the payment of April 2020 salaries, bringing the total months owed them to…between three to seven months. There is an established community transmission of [Covid-19] in the [FCT] with four of our members already exposed following the confirmation of two cases at the Wuse District Hospital’, they said.

They further added that ‘despite [m]anagement’s assertion of the provision of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) across all general hospitals, it was noted by the council that some of these PPE were still being hoarded by some units as members do not readily access these apparels when attending to suspected cases of [Covid-19]’.

Source: THISDAY

Photo source: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control