Concerned 2022/2023 healthcare professionals, who underwent internship with the University College Hospital, UCH, have accused management of the hospital of owing 8-months Hazard Allowance, lamenting that they have been neglected to their fate.
The affected medical personnel are drawn from different departments including Pharmacy, Dietetics, Physiotherapy, Nursing, Dental Technology, Dental Therapy, Radiography and Medical Laboratory.
According to a ‘Save Our Soul’ letter obtained by NewsBreakNaija during the week, the set lamented that several attempts made while on internship programme to get the issue resolved proved abortive, saying that “all of our efforts ended up with promises upon promises, hopes that lingered on till today with no sign of eventual payment upfront.”
They claimed to have visited the Accounting Department, GIFMIS Office, to meet with their executives of respective Associations (AHAPN, NUAHP and so on), to plead with the management on their behalf but efforts didn’t come to fruition.
The letter titled: ‘Concerned Interns Of 2022/2023’, read thus: “I write as a concerned member of 2022/2023 set of interns of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan to plead with the management on the release and disbursement of our unpaid 8 months hazard allowance arrears.
“We resumed for internship on the 11th April, 2022 and served through to 10th of April 2023. It is worthy of note that we are grateful for the quality of training we received while working to ensure patients get the quality of health they deserve, one which UCH prides herself in as the first and best Hospital in the country. We did this despite the hazard we daily exposed ourselves to in our line of work (across all the disciplines), the last thing we deserve is non-payment of allowances we toiled and suffered to earn.
“Several attempts were made while we were still on internship to get this resolved, the attempts included several trips to the Accounting department, GIFMIS office and meeting with our respective Associations (AHAPN, NUAHP and so on) executives to plead with the management on our behalf. All of these ended up with promises upon promises, hopes that lingered on till today with no sign of eventual payment upfront.
“Moreover, our counterparts in OAUTHC whom we interned together at the same time got paid all their arrears this week and one would wonder why the first and the best Hospital in the country won’t do the needful and right thing. Attached is a screenshot of the said payment as received by OAUTHC 2022/2023 interns.
“We humbly use this to call on your office to help look into this as you must have been aware, we hold the hospital in high esteem and we will appreciate that our hazard allowance arrears is paid as soon as possible.”
Reacting to the accusation, the Public Relations Officer of the University College Hospital, Mrs Funmi Adetuyibi, clarified that it is the Federal Government should be held responsible for the debt owed the interns but not management of the UCH.
She said: “It is not the UCH Management that is owing them but the Federal Government. The FG’s Intergrated Personnel Payment Information Systems (IPPIS) pays the workers of UCH and the interns too.
“Let me cite an example; if the staffers of UCH are owed, does it mean it is UCH that is owing them? No. It is the federal government. That is why we cannot put the blame on UCH. They pay us from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation. We get money directly through the IPPIS.
“You see, we all know that there are some money that you have no reason to touch so that you don’t put the image of your institution in bad light. If the FG will pay them, the money will go directly into the interns’ accounts. And it is not as if the FG will pay into the account of UCH and the UCH later sends it to their accounts. No.
“Though they have asked us to forward the list of our interns and we have done that. Not once, twice or thrice and we update the list on a regular basis.”
