Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar
26 June 2009
Yola — Health services in public hospitals and clinics in Adamawa State have been paralysed as health workers in the state began an indefinite strike yesterday.
Several in-patients were seen leaving public hospitals and many out-patients were returning home unattended to.
Governor Murtala Nyako was out of the state, but Deputy Governor Bala Nggilari and other top government officials yesterday held meetings with the workers' union leaders with a view to addressing the problem.
The workers began the strike yesterday to protest the suspension of the new salary structure by the state government.
The new structure, known as HATTISS IV was suspended by the state earlier this month, following mounting salary bills and allegations of increasing number of ghost workers in the sector.
The government said it suspended the implementation of the new salary to enable it conduct a verification exercise. When the union realised that the voucher for his month salaries was based on the old salary grade, they embarked on a strike.
The union bulletin said: "Following the suspension of HATTISS IV by the government under the guise of verification on 9th June, 2009, our fears of government's insincerity has been confirmed by the release of old grade level salaries vouchers instead of HATTISS IV salary. To that effect, we have respectfully resolved to reject the old salaries and proceed on our planned strike," they said.
Another letter from the public relations officer of the union, Comrade Bello Ibrahim advised t workers to remain calm and law abiding.
When our correspondent visited the Specialist Hospital in Yola yesterday, he saw its main gate shut, and some in-patients leaving the hospital through the small gates, complaining that they had not been attended to because of the strike.
Inside the hospital, he observed that, although cleaners had swept the premises, some of the wards looked deserted, with only a few patients, their relatives and few nursing students standing by.
An in-patient at the Orthopaedic Ward told Daily Trust that he was waiting for his relatives to come and take him to a private hospital.
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