The management of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) has come under fire on social media for allegedly failing to pay 34 doctors six months after their employment.
The Herald gathered that the doctors were employed in November 2019 but have not received a dime as payment for their services since then.
Four of the doctors are reportedly now in isolation after being exposed to COVID-19 during the course of their work.
The doctors are said to be languishing in a state of lack as a result of non-payment of their salaries, with those in isolation having nothing to eat.
A UK-based Nigerian doctor, Dr Olufunmilayo Harvey, took to Twitter to make the revelation on Tuesday morning.
He wrote, “LUTH employed 34 doctors in November 2019. LUTH has NEVER paid them. 4 now in isolation because of Coronavirus. NOTHING to eat. NOT PAID 6months. Begging/crying but LUTH says it will NEVER pay them yet. Even if they die in isolation. Pls I beg you all, RT to expose this evil to the world.”
He explained further, “The doctors now in isolation got exposed from another LUTH doctor who is currently Covid19 positive. These doctors feel hopeless. NOT paid 6months. NOTHING to eat. NOTHING to give family. Yet LUTH has made it clear they don’t care. If they die, they die.
“These doctors are “resident” doctors. They are the doctors you always see first whenever you go to LUTH. They are the ones always on ground even after the senior specialists have all gone home. They do all the dirty work. And they get treated like trash.
“LUTH told these 34 doctors they can go to hell. If they want to strike, it’s their business. This is after 6 months of unpaid work. LUTH said to them in clear terms they will NEVER pay them any salary this month or for the last 6. If they die, so be it.
“LUTH management knows if these doctors declare a strike in the middle of the Covid19 pandemic, the public will call them names and insult them. So they are exploiting these doctors and blackmailing them to die in silence while they fight a deadly virus.
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“And this is where I need your help: LUTH wants to starve these 34 doctors to death just because doctors want to avoid a public backlash. The monster here is LUTH. Please retweet and share this story for the whole world to see the evil that is done in LUTH.
“LUTH employed this people LUTH has never paid this people LUTH tells them to go to hell. These people are begging. Married men and women with kids begging for money- money they actually worked for. This is madness. Pls lend your voice. Thank you everyone.
“Anybody who doubts my story should go ahead and speak with Resident Doctors in LUTH. Feel free to ask their executive council members. Feel free to ask LUTH management. This is complete evil against people who risk their lives for us all. Speak up for them. I beg you! Thanks.”
The management of the teaching hospital has yet to respond to the allegations.