From Judex Okoro, Calabar

The interns from University of Calabar Teaching hospital, UCTH, numbering 352 have staged a peaceful protest, demanding immediate payment of their eleven months salary arrears.

The interns including medical doctors, pharmicists, laboratory scientists, and other medical personnel defied all entreaties from security operatives and matched round the major streets of Calabar on Monday chanting solidarity songs and carrying placards with various inscriptions as “pay UCTH interns now” don’t harass us, Pay us now” 11 months without interns salary”.

Speaking with journalists during the protest, one of the protesters, Gideon Duba, explained that the UCTH is owing them for eleven months and whenever they try engaging the management for their payments the management keep saying it is a national issue.

Gideon disclosed that their total salary is about N480m, alleging that the UCTH has severely used the police to intimidate them and other subtle threats to disuade them from complaining.

He said: “We keep on engaging the management, but they say we are disturbing constituting security threats.

“A memo was released on August 2, 2021 placing us on a one month suspension, to allow for the resolving of the issue. Up until now, nothing has been done.

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“After that, they said we should write an apology letter and we have done so, yet no solution. The management is not sincere in this whole thing. We are 352 in number. And when you open up, they will call the security agency to come after you. we are being enslaved.

Also speaking, another intern, Miss Nmuoeke Maurine, said: “The reason for our protest is because of our 11 months salaries owed us and over two months suspension that we don’t even know when it will he called off.

“We have not done anything to the management to attract this unfair treatment. I plead that money should be available because other medical institutions are being paid. Let them lift the suspension. We have worked for our money.” She said.

On her part, Shadrach Atheodor, said: “We are not here to fight or make problem rather our emphasis is that we should be paid. I was invited to the DSS Office yesterday. There, they told us not to do any peaceful protest, the DSS has tried their best but if the management do the needful, we won’t be gathered here today.

They called on we call on the federal government, the EFCC, Minister of health, to intervene and save them from the abject poverty they have been thrown into as a result of non payment of salaries.

Earlier in an interview with journalists in his office on the matter, the Chief Medical Director of the University Teaching Hopsital, Prof Ikpeme Ikpeme, said he is doing everything possible to ensure that the backlog of salaries of interns are cleared.

Ikpeme said UCTH is not the only hospital facing similar situation, adding that the non-payment is due to shortage of funds, explaining that the hospital is pasing through difficult times and assured that they would get their backlog whenever the federal government relelase funds for that purpose.