Ondo Nurses Stage Protest Against Victimisation By Hospital’s Management

Nurses at the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital in Ondo State have protested over alleged victimisation by the hospital authorities.

The nurses explained that they were always victimised anytime they demanded their rights including salaries.

Some of them said they receive all kinds of queries daily from the authorities if they demanded their benefits.

The action, the nurses claimed, was making them feel depressed to continue performing at the government-owned hospital.

The protesting nurses accused the Director of Nursing Services at the teaching hospital, Ajetunmobi Fehintola Olayinka, of specifically victimising them.

One of the nurses, who simply identified herself as Bisi, told SaharaReporters that the doctors were angry over the unfavourable actions of the hospital authority.

She said, "Anytime you demand your rights especially salary, subsequent thing you'd see may be a query.

"We are even disappointed that the authorities of the hospital don't even know the meaning of the query and when to use it.

"We are telling them that minor offenses only needed verbal warning and not queries which they need decided to form as a practice .

"But sadly, the office of the DNS has turned to an avenue for the victimisation of serving nurses who are always posing for their rights."

The DNS, Mrs. Olayinka.

Another nurse, who pleaded to not be named, said authorities of the hospital were wont to quoting government officials rules anytime a nurse challenged the established order .

"So, we wonder how they can't detect that there's no a part of the government officials rules that say an employee should be owed a month’s salary to not talk about months", she added.

Mrs Olayinka, the hospital DNS, couldn't be reached when contacted by SaharaReporters but a source on the brink of her said "some of the nurses are always rude in their approach".

However, the protest comes barely three days after a nurse within the government hospital, Mr Taiwo Adeleke, dropped a suicide note following an alleged similar case of victimisation.

The nurse had gone on social media to call out the authorities of the hospital after they did not pay the salaries of the doctors within the facility.

But instead of addressing the salary issue, the authorities proceeded to issue a question to Adeleke over his action.

Concerned by things , the nurse again went on Ondo syyeto social media and wrote that he was "depressed" by the choice of the hospital authority.

He, thereafter, threatened to kill himself and went offline before he was declared missing by a number of his friends and families.

The nurse was later found and rescued to the emergence unit of the hospital after taking an unknown substance to kill himself.

Nurses and other doctors within the state are agitating for the payment of their salaries for the past three months and above.

The government has been making promises to offset the salary of the doctors .