More than two years after they were casualised and three months of unpaid salaries and allowances, about 160 resident doctors at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu State, yesterday, lamented that they now patronise loan apps to afford a living and cater for their families.

The doctors were engaged in 2021 under a local arrangement (Locum) to fill the vacuum created in the hospital owing to the dearth of medical personnel, with the promise to be converted as regular resident doctors after six months. They have, however, been in practice since then and not sure when their conversion will come.

They pointed out the implication of remaining in residency and not being entitled to training funds that would enable them to prepare for other medical examinations.

Addressing reporters, President of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), UNTH chapter, Dr. Chinazom Ekwueme, decried the plight of medical staff who have now been turned to beggars.

She said: “We understand that this is a residency programme that spans six years. Imagine a doctor that you employed over two years and you are not entitled to medical residency training funds.”

You are not entitled to pension deductions and, in fact, you are not a staff member, but just a casual worker. So, it is unacceptable that a medical doctor should be casualised. We have been owed, we have not been employed and we have not received a waiver.

“They keep telling us that they cannot get a waiver; that there is an embargo on employment. But we know centres surrounding us that have employed their own local staff, and we don’t know why it is an issue in the last two years. The last time UNTH employed doctors was in 2021. Since then, we have not got any other employment. As at that time, we had local doctors already in employment. Those people were not employed; they rather employed fresh doctors, leaving those in local service.

“So, as we speak, the local doctors are being owed three months, even with the high inflation rate in Nigeria. Our members have resorted to borrowing, and we are begging the public to help us. We are overburdened in UNTH due to paucity of manpower. Even if NARD calls off its strike, we cannot guarantee industrial harmony in UNTH.”

Reacting, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Obinna Onodugo, blamed the Federal Government for the delay in payment of doctors’ salaries. He also asked them to exercise patience until the embargo on employment is lifted to enable them to be regularised.