By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
The University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Rivers State, says it has stopped the salaries of 1,000 workers following a recently concluded staff audit.
The Chief Medical Director (CMD), Professor Chituru Orluwene, disclosed this at a news briefing on Monday, April 13, to mark his first 100 days in office.
Prof. Orluwene stated that on assumption of office as the hospital’s 8th CMD, the hospital did not have a nominal roll.
He said that over 4,000 staff members were on the payroll; however, after a staff audit, only 2,000 workers were physically present, while the others could not be verified.
The UPTH CMD explained that the development necessitated a verification exercise, pointing out that after the exercise, 2,000 workers could not be verified.
According to him, the report of the verification exercise has been submitted to the hospital management, while the salaries of 1,000 workers have been stopped.
Prof. Orluwene decried the development and urged the Federal Government to act on the report and approve the employment of people ready to work.
He said, “When we resumed, we found 4,000 staff on the payroll, but 2,000 of them were on the ground. Following this, we initiated a verification exercise, a process that will also help us get a nominal roll for the hospital, because when we resumed, we did not meet a normal roll.
“We have recovered a lot, but the evil effect of having many people who are not working is an issue. We have stopped the salaries of over 1,000 people. When this report gets to the Federal Government, they will have to employ people who are ready to work.”
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The CMD further said his administration had blocked revenue leakages in the system in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
He said the management is working to tackle all forms of corruption among workers, adding that it has stopped the activities of those who receive money into their private accounts using Point of Sale (PoS) machines in the hospital.
Prof. Orluwene added that he had ordered a downward review of hospital and mortuary bills to ease costs on patients.
He noted that under his leadership, the hospital has introduced in-patient feeding, adding that a patient would be charged N5,000 for three meals daily.
The CMD also noted that the hospital carried out proper sanitation of the hospital facility and repaired broken underground pipes, which contributed to the breeding of mosquitoes in the facility.
“I am not here for rhetoric but for work. From the 1st of January, when we resumed, you could even see mosquitoes in your office. The problem is not how we handle the surface.
“Once you have a dirty environment, underground water, and stagnant waters, mosquitoes must disturb. So I got a consultant as we came in. He entered the underground of the hospital; they found broken pipes.
“They drained the whole soakaway pits. They removed about 40 trucks. All the soakaway pits were filled. When they finished it, the mosquitoes reduced,” he said.
