Cleaners and porters, today, Monday, shut down Abuja Specialist Hospital in Gwagwalada, demanding the immediate payment of their five months accumulated salaries from their employers.
Eye witness accounts said today, Monday, that the angry workers, who arrived in the hospital as early as 6am, barricaded all entrances into the premises of the hospipital, including the main gate, making it impossible for medical and other essential personnel to gain entry into the premises.
It was learnt that the protesting workers stationed themselves in strategic places around the hospital to prevent essential staff from carrying out their duties, even as the services of the porters and the cleaners were completely grounded.
It was learnt that most of the outpatients were forced to either go to other nearby health facilities for medical attention or return to their houses. This was even as the patients on admission were left to their fate.
The protesting workers, who are said to be earning between N12, 000 and, N15,000 per month, are under direct employment of private companies to which the cleaning job and that of the porters are contracted.
It was not immediately known whether or not the Federal Ministry of health, under the which jurisdiction the Specialist Hospitals operate, had actually disbursed funds to the private company, from where they would pay their workers. [myad]
