The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital, Gusau, the Zamfara State capital has issued a one-week strike notice to the state government over unpaid salaries and alleged illegal deductions.
The doctors issued the notice in a statement signed by the President and Secretary of the Association, Dr Kareem Quadir and Dr Isa Malik, respectively, in Gusau on Thursday.
The statement noted, “This is to notify the management of Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital, Gusau that due to failure of the state Ministry of Finance to ratify the problem of salaries and shortfalls involving our deductions, we are embarking on one-week warning strike starting from September 14, 2020, by midnight.
“Since February 2020 to date, we noticed that some of our members have not been receiving salaries while some have been facing unexplained deductions. We observed that the number of affected doctors are increasing every month.
“We visited the state Ministry of Finance. We have also met concerned personnel in the finance department of the hospital to address the problem as well as to refund the unpaid salary and deductions.
“The Association also urged the management of the hospital to appeal to the Ministry of Finance. Unfortunately, instead of the problem to be addressed, the situation is getting worse as the number of affected doctors are increasing every month.
“If the problem is not addressed after seven days of the warning strike, the association would have no other option than to embark on an indefinite strike until all its demands are met.
“We hope that the problem will be resolved soon so that we can continue to perform our duties for the benefit of the people of the state.”
