Employees at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, have expressed their frustration with the management over a prolonged period of unpaid salaries, lasting for over 10 months.

In separate interviews on Wednesday, some medical workers revealed the dire consequences of the financial strain, including resorting to begging to provide for their families.

One employee, identified as Ben, shared his struggle, stating that he has been unable to feed his family since joining the service of OAUTH on December 13, 2022.

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Despite renting an apartment and utilizing savings with the hope of reimbursement, he has yet to receive any salary payments.

Another employee, who chose to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, highlighted the exodus of medical practitioners from the country, attributing it to the suffering experienced by those working in Nigeria.

The employee emphasized the plight of workers in federal government teaching hospitals, citing the non-payment of salaries for over 10 months and the failure to be captured by the IPPIS system.

Efforts to address their concerns proved futile, with the anonymous employee appealing to relevant authorities for assistance.

The employee recounted unsuccessful attempts to elicit a response from the Ministry of Health, sharing that previous strike actions by health unions had not yielded positive results.

In response to the situation, the Chief Medical Director of OAUTH, John Okeniyi, directed inquiries to a tweet by the Minister for Health, Muhammed Pate.

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He mentioned that he could not provide an official comment at the moment and awaits directives from the FMoHSW.

Minister Pate, in a tweet on October 13, acknowledged the completion of an investigation into the matter and assured that the issue would be resolved soonest, expressing understanding for the difficulties faced by health workers.