Health workers in the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital on Monday in Ado-Ekiti protested the non-implementation of minimum wage by the state government, among other demands.

The protest by the workers under the aegis of Joint Health Workers Union (JOHESU) which started as early as 8:00 a.m., left some of the patients in the facility unattended to.

The aggrieved workers locked the major entrances to the hospital, thus preventing all other workers from gaining access to the hospital.

Aside from the issue of minimum wage, the workers were also aggrieved over non remittance of their cooperative deductions, special levies, as well as union dues.

The Chairperson of JOHESU, Omotola Farotimi, while addressing journalists over the issue said, “It’s a matter which government has failed to resolve over the years.

“It includes non remittance of our cooperative deductions, special levies, union dues and implementation of minimum wage.

“We are being owed deductions for two years and we are getting tired. This development has led to brain drain as many of our best hands have left for greener pastures.

“We signed an MOU with the state government that every approval for staff of federal teaching hospitals would be given to us.

“However, up until now, we have yet to get the minimum wage which has been approved since 2019. The last board approved it but the management failed to pay.’’

Mrs Farotimi described the situation as disheartening, adding that in spite of their sacrifices to the state government, the workers had been treated so badly by successive administrations.

She said the protest would continue until the state government did the needful.

Some relatives of patients who preferred anonymity described the development as painful, saying patients were the ones bearing the brunt. 

(NAN)