Staff of the Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH) Umuna Orlu, have downed tool and embarked on another round of industrial action to back demands for the payment of a total of six months arrears of salaries owed them by the Imo state government, under Rochas Okorocha.
This is coming on the heels of a recent EFCC report stating that out of the eight billion naira (N8 billion) recovered from the stolen N26.8 billion Imo bailout fund, the sum of N2.5 billion was released to the state government for payment of salaries in the post election era. Yet, staff of IMSUTH were not captured in the exercise, while Okorocha has severally denied owing any worker.
Report from IMSUTH, however explains the contrary. They contend that Okorocha and the management of the institution are owing the workers for three months, beginning from February to April 2019, yet May is almost ended. This is aside a previous three months arrears of salaries owed the workers since Okorocha took over as Governor in 2011, totaling six months indebtedness to the workers. Their previous indebtedness for three months were probably part of the debts meant to be settled with the N26.8 billion bailout fund.
To protest this obvious inhumanity to man, the Nurses, Doctors and other teaching hospital staff, two weeks ago embarked on an industrial action, thus leaving their patients to die.
Most of the abandoned patients have since been transferred to other hospitals while those who cannot afford the luxury are presently languishing and writhing in pains inside the hospital without help coming their way more than two weeks into the industrial action.
Worst hit are patients at the casualty and emergency unit or accident victims of the hospital, which recorded one death as the patients were being evacuated to other hospitals within and outside Orlu, under panic situations.
A stalwart of Orluzurumee, Mr Alphonsus Nnohim, who is on admission for certain ailment laments that he cannot afford to transfer to another hospital after spending so much at Orlu IMSUTH. He is one of the patients presently stranded in the hospital premises, now on admission without electricity, water or any functional equipment available.
