Yakubu Busari
The alleged deplorable state of Plateau State Specialist Hospital may be due to alleged corruption that now reigns supreme which is as result of allegations of maladministration at the Hospital.
In every organization either governmental or non-governmental, the finance department is saddled with the responsibility of preparing and paying staff salaries and other entitlements as required motivating them.
Investigation revealed that there is a syndicate that exists between the finance department of the hospital and staff of the ministry of finance, thereby frustrating the effort of the government’s desire to transform the hospital.
The staffs of the hospital are paid without issuing payslip for cross-checking, staff go to the state ministry of finance and apply before the payslip are issued to them. Going through the payslip errors are discovered monthly, such as over deduction, payment that were not seen in the payslips, allowances are also tampered with when payment was made, worse is when promotions were made and financial benefits were paid in April, staff steps were cut down to step one, lucky ones regained their own fully after series of struggles, but the unlucky ones, loses either step one or two.
The salary arrears were also characterized by a lot of irregularities. Some staff were underpaid, while some overpaid, some junior staff received higher than the senior staff of the same salary structure, CONHESS levels received different salaries due to favoritism,
Those that were overpaid were called back to refund excess in cash to the staff of the ministry of finance while for some, deductions were made directly from the source at the subsequent salaries.
The hospital is also facing challenges of understaffed considering the influx of patients that visits the hospital daily.
The hospital engaged some contract nurses who are collecting very meager salaries of twenty thousand, no significant impact is felt. Except for the morning shift, due to the presence of overcharges in the units, each unit is run by two nurses per shift against even when world health organization’s standard is four to five nurses per patients.
While at the intensive care unit, a nurse per one to two patients. Wards one, two and three are thirty bedded wards and each is being managed by two nurses in the afternoon and the night shifts. And this applies to every unit of the hospital, while some obstetric and gynecological subunits are run by a nurse, at times with student midwives.
Early last year, some staff of the hospital that finished paying loans collected from their various cooperative societies within the hospital in December 2017. These loans were still deducted but not given to them on collecting their payslips, they indicated, the money has been sent to one of their cooperative societies (Mary Slessor) cooperative society, while the schedule for deduction sent to the cooperative.
With this, it clearly shows that the contents of the spray sheet in the hospital are always different from that the payslips in the state ministry of finance and also different from the content of the bank statements.
The House officers, Medical Lab scientists, and pharmacist interns worked for nine months without pay and were later paid on the 5_8_2019, instead of them to receive one million; four hundred naira only, they received six hundred and ninety thousand naira.
But six of them who left the hospital four months ago were overpaid, some of them were called upon by those in charge of the payment of salaries in the state ministry of finance to refund the excess money paid into their accounts hand to hand, while some were sent account numbers to pay the money.
Between April to June, this year resident Doctors name were included in pensioner’s list, just to confuse, because they develop many ways of cheating on the state government.
Speaking to our corresponding in his office on all the allegations, the chief medical director of the hospital, Dr. Philemon Golwa said that the engagement of the contrary nurses came as a result of the agreement reached between the former commissioner for health and the union leaders.
we all agreed that we will only accommodate volunteer nurses because the law does not allow us to casualized nurses because they are professionals, so we asked all the nurses who want to volunteer to put all the applications.
We needed only 35 but surprisingly, we got up to one hundred and eighty-something that applied, that is to tell you how saturated the market. We were able to screen down and got the number we wanted some of them got other engagements somewhere they left and we kept on replacing them.
We sat down as management and came out with the payment of twenty thousand for them every month and we have been faithful without defaulting without paying them. Anybody who tells you otherwise, he does not know what he is saying because the records are here.
I have even signed for this month so that they can be paid any moment from now. Anybody who tells you something else, maybe he is targeting something for himself but not in this hospital.
On the issue of some staff being overpaid and nepotism, the CMD burst into laughter and said, that is laughable allegation. Number one, this hospital does not pay anyone anything that has to do with salaries is being handled by the state ministry of finance, but there were a problem with interns Pharmacist, Medical Laboratory scientists, House officers, and Youth Corp members, after computation of their emoluments and we forwarded it to the finance ministry, unfortunately, when they put it on automated teller machine, the machine paid them salaries which they are not supposed to be paid, they are on allowances, is only house officers pharmacists and Medical Laboratory science interns that supposed to be on specified salary scale that is meant for them. All other categories supposed to be on allowances.
The automated teller machine overpaid them and we asked them to refund the money.
Dr. Gwolwa further explained why the staff is being paid without payslips.
We don’t pay any intern now because the ministry of finance has taken over but in case if anybody wants a slip, there is a provision in the ministry of finance if you want it, then you apply for it and they will give you, nobody has ever been denied of payslip. We have been liaising with the ministry of finance for future use because so many people will like to have the pay lips for an interview at the Embassies for authentication of salary payment. We have never denied anybody payslip but it is not on request, we don’t give because of the costs of papers.
The Chief Medical Director also talk about the challenges, and future of the hospital Challenges, without challenges, you will not know whether you are succeeding or not, so I blossom in challenges.
To be very fair to you, I have a mission and every manager of a hospital should have itemized mission, which mine is to transform the hospital and make it acceptable to the common man. We have gone round in other countries and see what is obtained. We received a donation of ICU by Olu and Adebayo foundation. UBA had also donated an isolation ward with 20-bed space.
We have commissioned it but yet to start operation because of lack of manpower and we are waiting for the governor to allow us to employ more manpower. The foundation also donated two incubators.
As I said, the governor is so passionate about the hospital and we are also looking on how we can go about cardiac surgeries in the future and we are partnering with the Moroccan government to build another ICU that will be attached to the operation room and that will take care of pediatric patients immediately after surgery should be taken there.
That has been completed and when the rain seizes out, we will roof it.
Right now we are also partnering with Radiology for CT MRI to be put in this hospital.
